 
### Blood of Mystics

by Chris Walters

Book Three of Saga of Mystics

Copyright 2018 by Chris Walters

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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# THREE YEARS AFTER THE EVENT, PRE-WINTER

" _Love comes in many forms, but so does hate._ " Ardeth Milborg – _letter to a paramour_

# CHAPTER ONE

The smell of pine needles, especially fresh ones, always made her happy. There is no fresher smell than the new growth at the very top of the tree. Izzy waited in the dark, atop the tall pine, her wing feathers fluttering. She could see the group below her around the campfire, and hear their whispered conversation, as could her friends. She looked around to see the whole group listening just as intently as she was. They had been spying on groups at the south side of Black Forest for months, trying to get the information they needed. If what they had heard "on the wind" last winter was true, there would be hell to pay for someone.

She wore black leather, and that combined with her black wings, made it almost impossible to see her at night. It is why the group was always okay with her getting in much closer proximity than the rest. They all had white wings and stayed a little more distant to stay in shadow. It made her feel special.

She balanced on the smallest branch at the top of the pine, letting the air keep her aloft with small movements of her wings. In her former life, she never would have believed the branch would have supported her weight. In all reality, it did not. Izzy's wings kept her perfectly balanced.

They always hoped for new information, but most of the time, it ended up like this. The conversation below was getting quite boring, so she looked up to the taller tree where Artie and Gwen sat, still as the night. She nodded, and he returned the nod, before making a hand gesture and all eight of them spread their wings, letting the wind itself bring them higher. They did not flap their wings. Whenever they did, it was actually quite loud and destroyed the whole illusion of stealth. So, as usual, they soared out of the area, before flapping to gain height.

She loved flying. In the three years since her wings had sprouted, she had learned to truly enjoy it. They were all good flyers, and regularly trained at formations and maneuvers. But, to Izzy, it was just an excuse to play. Flying is the embodiment of freedom mixed with joy. The only thing better than her normal flying, was flying with Tristan. They had been together since that fateful day on top of Pike's Peak three years earlier. She wanted to marry him but didn't know if people still got married at the end of the world.

As they had gained enough distance, Artie made the smallest motion, which they all recognized, and began flapping their wings to gain height. Artie led them a little north to avoid the large town of Council Bluffs and they entered the airspace of the old Air Force Academy. They flew to the stadium and perched on the old field lights, high above the stadium.

"So, it's true," Lance said, the anger in his voice clear.

"Seems like it. That is the third time we have heard that tale," Tristan answered. "Short of taking a hostage and questioning them, I think we know all we can know."

"But we know nothing," Gwen cut in. "Annie has been missing for over a year. All of her other creatures..."

"I don't like that term," Artie said.

"Hon, I don't have another term for them..."

Artie shook his head. "We benefited from her amazing gift. Are we creatures?"

Gwen looked down, uncertain how to continue.

"No, Artie," Mara called out, "We are bad ass angels!"

The group all laughed.

"Well, except for Izzy," Mara stated, looking over at Izzy.

"Shut up, bitch." Izzy replied and the whole group chuckled, including Mara.

It had been a long time since the Event. Izzy and Mara had grown close, but her friend could never repay her for the way she had initially treated Izzy. At least not in her own mind. So, she would tease her by calling her a demon. Izzy didn't mind. She had long ago forgiven Mara and grown to love her as a sister. This was the only family she had left.

She thought back to those first days when they came down from the mountain and found out about the Event. She remembered how each of their family members had been afraid or repulsed by the fact that these teens all had wings. The families had rejected them all. They weren't teens any more. They were each either twenty or twenty-one and they had become angels of war.

At numerous times in the last three years, they had been forced into fighting. The result was that they were quite good at it. Most people didn't really know how to deal with an opponent who could fly. But, like everyone else, they all had powers too. Their wings had been an element of Annie Grace's powers, even though she did not know she was using them when she made this group into angels. Izzy and her friends were Annie Grace's first changelings.

"Changelings," Izzy offered the word to Gwen to get her out of the bind.

"I like that," Perk said with a smile.

Gwen smiled gratefully at Izzy. "All of her other changelings are no longer in the woods. I swear I saw some near Council Bluffs. Maybe we should..."

"No," Gavin shook his head, "We saw the power of those people. If they didn't accept us, we might end up having to fight hundreds of powerful foes. And, before you say it, the same is true for Manitou Springs."

Lance nodded. "The old man is the only one who has been nice to us. But, his town has grown. Who knows if he would still be nice."

The silence of their lonely reminiscence was broken by a barking dog. In the last year, the old Academy had been overrun with dogs. The number was easily into the hundreds and they spread out across the entirety of the Academy. Izzy very much doubted anyone other than she and her friends could get on the old base. As it was, the dogs couldn't fly, so they were really no threat.

"So, she is dead?" Izzy asked.

"I guess so, sweetie," Tristan answered her.

A small tear was all Izzy could muster. It had been months they had heard the rumors about Annie's demise. She had been burned by something. Some said it was a powerful Pyrokinetic, others that it was a dragon. The dragon was a pretty far-fetched idea. They all assumed it was a pyrokinetic, but it could just as easily have been an accident. Rumors have a way of not being true.

"I wish we could have been there," Lance added, "We could have whisked her away to the nest and kept her safe."

Artie nodded silently.

"What do we do now, Art?" Tristan queried.

"We get vengeance," Artie replied quietly.

This small statement was enough to stun Izzy. It seemed everyone else was stunned too. This was not like Artie, but it accurately expressed what they all were feeling. Someone needed to pay for taking this beautiful woman from the world.

"How we gonna do that?" Mara asked.

Artie looked up and spread his wings. "We make ourselves known. We will fly toward those eastern farms and get answers. When we do, we will end whoever has taken our friend. Eagles are loyal."

"That they are, my friend," Perk responded, "That they are."

As the others took to flight, movement from the corner of her vision caught Izzy's eye and she swooped to look at where a number of dogs were circling and whimpering. She couldn't really make it out, but somewhere in the dark hallway before which they were circling was a girl. It wasn't that Izzy saw her. It was that Izzy heard her. Because out of that darkness a voice sprung.

"I see them," she said, "They are not a threat."

While trying to figure out what that might mean, the dogs stopped their circling and whimpering and ran off into the woods. No girl came out of the dark hallway, and no sight or sound followed. Izzy stayed for a moment. Realizing nothing was happening, and seeing her friends circling above waiting for her, she took to flight and rose into the cool night air. She made a mental note to herself to swing back by in the daylight and see if she could find the girl.

# CHAPTER TWO

It was getting colder. Jenny's solo mission to find Cliff had been going for months. After many near misses, she had discovered that he had taken up residence in the old NORAD station up on Cheyenne Mountain. It had taken some effort to believe that her much loved friend was now the giant flying serpent who terrified the masses of survivors' camps on the west and south sides of the old city.

"Survivors' camps" wasn't really the term for it any longer. In the last year, mostly through the Council's efforts, survivors had formed together into smaller communities spread throughout some of the old housing tracts. The Council had sent Terras to build walls for the communities and to build or support structures to house people. Commerce had begun. Just before she left on her journey, Jenny had attended the opening of the first pub at one of the towns. The towns had similarity in their build. They all had a town center and an administration building, a barracks for the warrior guard which the Council supplied, housing, a chapel in honor of Rich Carson, and a meditation garden. They all had manned gates and both light stones and shielding stones. Kyle had decided that the Council needed to "create value" for people to move into the towns and begin society once again. The experiment seemed to be working. There were much fewer solo camps out in the lands overseen by the Council.

A snapping twig startled her, and Jenny turned. She was not a warrior, and used most of her abilities to avoid people, and thereby avoid conflict. This had been her way since the Event, and it served her well. Reaching out with her mind to discover any person who might be following her, or sneaking up on her, she saw nothing but normal animal movements in the area. It must have been one of those. She turned back and slowly made her way up to the giant doors that had once claimed to be able to take a direct hit from a nuclear missile. To her surprise and disappointment, they were closed tight, and there was no sign of Cliff.

If he wasn't here, where the hell was he? She needed to find him, but had promised Kyle she would be back to the Bluffs by Thanksgiving. If her calculations were correct, she had about a week to get back. The last year had shown that Kyle was much stricter than Ted had been as leader, but it was all for a purpose. He had shown himself to be an excellent leader, who was always thinking of the safety and development of those under his charge. Unlike Ted, Kyle felt that rules were the structure through which society operated. As such, he had moved the Council to make rules for the area under their authority.

The strong, sweet smell of death creeped into her senses. It was an unmistakable scent, and one which was all too common since the Event.

Jenny turned and looked around, eventually finding the culprit. She had somehow missed it when she had passed, but against a nearby fence laid a human corpse, partially decayed. From the looks of the woman's body, she had been dead for maybe a week or so. Jenny never liked seeing a deceased person unattended. It seemed somehow disrespectful. She was about to look to the burial of the woman, when a real threat appeared. Out of the bushes trotted a small group of feral dogs. They growled and bared their teeth at her.

Jenny thought the smell of decaying flesh had probably brought them, but there was another possibility.

"Max?" She asked softly. From the salivating, and the angry barking that the dogs began, she could tell they weren't part of Max's pack. Jenny looked around for something with which to protect herself. This was not going to end well. Jenny was no fighter.

The dogs began to circle her, snapping their jaws and showing their teeth. Her adrenaline kicking into overdrive, Jenny frantically searched her immediate area for any protection. The closest dog lunged at her, its maw gaping open to bare the fangs to rend her flesh. She closed her eyes tight for a bite that never came. A huge gush of wind blew against her, as the dog yelped and disappeared. Opening her eyes, she saw the other dogs turn to snapping at the air as a giant, green figure dropped in and snapped one of the dogs up into its huge mouth.

Her friend Cliff had come to the rescue. Cliff made quick work of the dogs. They really didn't stand a chance against a dragon. But, then she watched him eat them. It was a little disgusting, but also fascinating, as Jenny had never seen a dragon eat before. It reminded her of a cat toying with a mouse. One of the dogs got away, but Cliff ate the other three and licked his mouth clean. He snapped in the air toward her in a frightening manner, but she remembered that Jordan had told her how scary it was when Cliff tried to communicate.

He stopped his gnashing, and sort of waddled toward her. As he came close, he lowered his head and put out one leg. He was clearly suggesting she climb on to his back. With all that had just happened, Jenny was thrilled to get a lift and she hopped right to it, climbing into a comfortable place which she assumed is where Ted and Britt had sat on their ride back to the Bluffs after the battle with the Faith.

When she was securely in place, Cliff leapt into the sky, spreading his massive wings behind him and flapping his way higher up until they landed on an outcropping of rock with some kind of destroyed cement building atop it. By the claw marks both on this building and further in, she could tell that Cliff had torn this apart to prepare himself a lair. It was littered with small items.

Jenny looked into those great serpentine eyes. "Cliff, you are still researching?"

The dragon nodded at her and bared his teeth in what Jenny could only assume was supposed to be a smile but was instead one of the most frightening things she had ever seen. He snorted, and very warm air washed over her.

"Oh, buddy. I miss you. I wish we could talk," she offered and patted his head, inadvertently slipping into petting the large beast.

Cliff's mouth moved as he gnashed at the air, snorting and hissing as he did. Clearly frustrated at not being able to communicate with her, he set to stomping around the small area until something caught his eye. Using his large maw, he nudged a small statue across the landing at her. Jenny picked it up, and Cliff stared at it, then at her. Then once again, he did the same motion. The third time he did it, he snorted, giving her the distinct feeling he was calling her obtuse.

"Oh, geez," she exclaimed, "You want me to read it?"

The look he gave her was so Cliff, she could almost hear him saying, "Duh!"

Smiling, she closed her eyes and looked at the statue's past. Homing in on anything recent, she saw Cliff pick it up from a house at the old resort, as she also saw him picking and clawing open a safe. She kept her view on it, as he had apparently kept it with him on a larger trip. She unfortunately had to witness Cliff destroying and devouring a small herd of elk. But, she also saw that he was searching for something in his trips. Not just food, Cliff was looking for items.

Maybe she really was obtuse, because it took her a minute to get what he was doing. He was looking for gems. He had torn into mansion safes, stores, and empty homes.

"Can you still prepare gems?" She asked.

Cliff nodded and did that menacing smile thing again.

"I have an idea!" Jenny exclaimed. "Can you take me back to the Bluffs?"

He shook his head no and began gnashing about angrily. She didn't know what he was saying, but he was clearly mad about something, and it was probably what kept him away.

She thought for a moment. "Okay, Cliff, okay," she patted his head again and he just snorted. "Can you get me off the mountain? I will come back; I know just who to get to help me talk to you."

He stared at her for a long moment, then nodded and lowered his head and leg so she could climb up his back. Climbing into the air, Jenny felt the cold air pick up on her face. She had warm clothes, but this was kind of cold. She leaned in and hugged her young friend, both for warmth and to comfort him.

"It is so good to see you again, buddy."

Cliff responded with a screech into the afternoon sky that would have terrified her if she was on the ground below. But, she knew what he was saying. Cliff Ko was glad to see her too.

# CHAPTER THREE

The day would only get colder. In the nearly three and a half years since the Event, the people of Council Bluffs had never wanted for appropriate clothing. But, as the supply of previously manufactured items grew thinner and thinner, the toll showed on every garment. Kyle pushed some stuffing back into a tear in the side of his down jacket. As Britt walked in, he looked up.

"When I get back, could you drop this by my grandmother's place and see if she can mend it?" Kyle asked.

"Yep," Britt answered shortly, as he packed a few items Kyle had forgotten into the backpack he would wear for his trip.

Kyle walked over to his boyfriend. He gave Britt a hug but received a half-hearted response.

"What is it, babe?" Kyle queried cautiously.

"I don't want you to go," Britt answered softly.

Kyle lifted Britt's face, so they look into each other's eyes. Kissing Britt lightly, he offered, "It is important."

Britt stepped away from him. "Don't patronize me, Kyle. You think I don't know that this is important. I know you will be safe. I know that the work you do is good."

"Then what is it?"

Britt held his gaze, then melted into a sheepish smile, "I will miss you."

Kyle smiled back, "I will be back before you know it."

"I know," Britt said, "Could you tell me the route again?"

"Of course," Kyle responded. "I will go into our town at the base of the Bluffs Road, then to Mountain Shadows, Carson, Downtown, Soaring Eagles, Sand Creek, Northwoods, Pine Creek, Briargate, Rockrimmon, and finish at Hillside."

"I have to ask the questions..." Britt followed.

"Of course," Kyle conceded.

"Why not bring a squad with you?"

Kyle smiled, "My powers will only keep me out of sight. Someone who was trying to attack me could find me by tracking my escort. I am safer this way."

Britt nodded, "Why visit all of the communities? Why not just the schools?"

"Well, I will start with visiting my sister at the Warrior school at Mountain Shadows. Then, I will finish with a visit to Adam and Erica. But, I will have to assign the authority of each community to a particular council member."

Britt nodded once more and looked down.

Kyle embraced him again, "You will look in on my grandmother and Cooper?"

A change in subject was the best way to break Britt's maudlin mood. As though they had been talking of nothing else, Britt bounced right into talking about this, "Of course. You know we should talk about how hard it is on Beth to raise that toddler. She isn't young and..."

"You think we should place him with someone else?" Kyle asked, securing his backpack.

Britt nodded, "I do. I think we should place him with two parents who are prepared to handle a rambunctious kid."

Kyle thought about it for a moment. It was a good idea, but who would be willing to take him on? Cooper Paolo was a powerful cryokinetic but was only three years old. Beth's power kept him in check, but he was known in the Bluffs for getting into things he shouldn't.

"Any ideas about placement?" Kyle asked.

"A nice married couple would be best," Britt answered.

"True. But, what married couple will take him on without Grandma's help?" Kyle asked.

Britt took a deep breath before answering him, "What if we placed him within the family?"

Kyle considered it, but the only married people in the family were Uncle Ted and Aunt Kayla. They were in no position to raise him. Kayla had never fully recovered from the accidental killing of her sister, Kyle's mother. Added to that, they were constantly searching for contact with their daughter, Max, who had disappeared a year ago.

"It is a good idea, but I don't think they are prepared to take on another responsibility," Kyle added.

"Who?" Britt questioned.

"You meant Ted and Kayla, right?"

"No," Britt answered with a smile.

"But, they are the only family members who are married. Nat isn't even in a relationship anymore," Kyle answered, turning toward Britt to figure out what he was talking about.

The look on Britt's face confused him at first. But, it washed over him what Britt was proposing. His heart beat a little faster, "Do you mean it?"

Britt nodded and grinned from ear to ear.

"You are saying yes?" Kyle asked.

"Nothing would make me happier than to be your husband, Kyle Ward. Plus, I would get the benefit of the Ward name. It is a powerful title around here," Britt answered.

Kyle played along, "Oh, you want my name too? I don't know."

Britt rushed over and kissed his fiancé.

"Well, I guess you can have the name. Should we hyphenate?" Kyle laughed.

"No," Britt answered, "Britton Ward is a fine name. So, hurry back so we can plan, okay?"

"Of course," Kyle answered. "Let's tell people when I return. Can you keep a secret?"

Britt gave him a look to let him know what a ridiculous question that was. Kyle grabbed his backpack and threw it over his shoulder. One last kiss and he was out the door. As he walked toward the front gates, he was happy that Jenny was on her mission. She would have seen right through him. He smiled and covered himself in the blanket of power that made himself invisible to others and continued down the road.

# CHAPTER FOUR

In the year since the destruction of their way of life, the citizens who had made up the Faith had returned to the east from whence they had come. The Council had let them live, after their defeat, but had set up borders to keep them away. This suited their new leader just fine. Jim had been the only member of the Lord's Hammer to survive, and the survivors on the eastern plains had taken to him as their leader pretty quickly.

He had watched his friends die. Not a day went by that he didn't remember that. He also remembered it was hubris which had killed them, hubris and Calvin Ward. Following Sal Martino, they thought themselves unbeatable. The Hermit had quickly disproven that theory. It was a shock to even those heathens in the Bluffs to find out that the Hermit was their long dead relative. Or was it? Jim didn't trust them for a minute.

In the last year, Chapel Grounds had formed into a township of sorts, with Jim appointed its mayor and spiritual leader. Once over the initial shock of realizing he wasn't a mute, the townies had been comforted by his sermons. These sermons were much more about peace and community, leaving behind the vitriolic rhetoric which was so common to Minister Sal. It wasn't that Jim believed it any less. These powers were an evil that corrupted the world. But, powerlessness caused him to reassess how to communicate their values. He now showed his feelings about the powers in a mild distaste for those who exhibited them and a social shunning, rather than in the willful executions in which he had taken part during the first parts of the Apocalypse.

"Good afternoon, Serena!" He called out to a young married woman in her twenties, who had recently come to work at the Grounds for protection. The townspeople were on him to choose a mate, as befit a spiritual leader. But, internally, he didn't think this was a good idea. It would cut back on the number of women he could have at any given point.

Serena blushed and smiled. Only twenty-four hours earlier, while her husband trained with the Western Guard, she had been on her knees in his trailer. It was not in prayer. Jim smiled at the memory.

As he continued across the center of town, he saw another young woman, Callie. She was only sixteen but was promising as a potential consort. He had spoken to her privately about keeping herself pure, laying the groundwork for how he could "help" her with that. Sal would have taken him to the woods and killed him for taking advantage of women. But, Sal wasn't here anymore, was he?

Callie Carruthers was the youngest sister of the Carruthers Boys, who had been burned for their heresy a year and a half ago. Her parents had been killed by bandits and the girl had sought refuge at Chapel Grounds. It never even occurred to her that she was seeking refuge with the very man who had killed her brothers. Jim had convinced her that the burnings were the work of the Serpent and it was just hate that told the tales of the Faith burning people.

People are gullible. No longer having access to the internet or television, people fell into old habits. They gained their knowledge from word of mouth. Jim was easily able to change the narrative to fear of the other, in this case the dragon beast, rather than fear of the Faith.

"Callie," he called out, "Come by my trailer and see me later. Okay?"

The girl smiled broadly and nodded, "Yes, minister."

Seeing all the women he was currently sleeping with gave Jim an idea. Mentally, he planned a series of sermons that would lead the people to accept polygamy. To be honest, the case could be made, since through natural causes, and the Faith's efforts, women outnumbered men three to one in the eastern plains. He could marry seven women, and make it seem like he was doing the Lord's work. After all, the Lord's work was whatever he said it was. And their husbands were easy enough to get rid of.

Walking into the old church which acted as the center of town and the administrative facility, he nodded a greeting to the guards posted there. Today was going to be all right.

# CHAPTER FIVE

Eric tied his horse to a post. It never stopped amazing him how quickly the world he knew was changing into a new society. The bustling little town of Mountain Shadows had only a year ago been looted out houses from an old housing tract. But, in that time, walls had been erected by Terrakinetics, the area around the walls cleared, and new structures placed to house its residents. He had ridden through the enormous gates, which his spies told him all of these communities had. He had seen the guard towers on the walls, the warrior school just east of the town, and now he saw the town center bustling with commerce. Society was coming back from the brink.

He walked into a tavern and took in the surroundings. It was somewhere between a scene from an old western and a fantasy tale. It brought a smile to his face to see men and women enjoying a pint around a large bar.

"Are you Mister Fine?" asked a beautiful, young bar server who was walking by with four mugs in her hands.

"I am," Eric answered.

"The council leader said he would meet you at the corner table. Over there in the back," she said, pointing to the only table not currently occupied in the whole place.

It was warm in the tavern, so he took his parka off and made his way to the corner table. Taking a seat, he gazed around at all of the people, their good cheer lightening his heart. It reminded him very much of soldiers around a bar in his youth.

"It is nice to see people moving on with life, isn't it?" Kyle's voice was right beside him.

Eric startled and turned to find the young man sitting in the booth in the corner. "How did you get there?"

"I am a tricky bastard," Kyle replied with a smirk. "How are things in Manitou?"

"Same," Eric let out, as the bar server appeared with two frosty mugs full of a medium ale. "Cold beer?"

"Indeed," Kyle answered.

"Very nice," Eric took a long sip from the ale. Colorado had always been known for its breweries. Someone in the camp knew how to make beer and had done a fine job. He hadn't had a cold beer in three years. The beers they had shared with the grand master the year before had been lukewarm.

"These made by Pike's people?" he asked, pointing to the mug before him.

"No, a local guy," Kyle answered. After an uncomfortably long pause, Kyle continued, "So, why are we meeting here, Eric?"

Eric took another swig of his ale. He didn't much care for the tone with which Kyle Ward was speaking to him. The boy might be Council Bluffs leader, but he was still a young man. He should be more respectful. "Well, part of it is that I wanted to see your town. Generally, they still don't let my people just walk in without notice."

Kyle didn't take the bait. Prior to teaming up last year, Eric's men and Kyle's had been chief adversaries since the Event. Eric knew very well why his men weren't welcome. Kyle went in a different direction.

"The town has grown nicely," he began. "The school is training our armies and guards. I am sure you know as much about them as I do."

Eric just smiled a knowing smile. He had a reputation for effective spying.

"So, I ask again," Kyle said, "Why are we here?"

"Trade," Eric offered.

A quizzical look crossed Kyle's face. The boy was an open book. He had no idea how to hide his emotions. "What do you want to trade?" Kyle asked.

"Well, now? Beer, for one," he grinned and drank from his mug again. "But really, I just want to open up regular trade between our peoples. I know you have developed a scale to use old coins as currency. That is a great idea, by the way. But, I want to have you train some empaths for me. Warriors, I have my own training. But, yeah, kinetics and empaths, I could use the help. What does it cost?"

"We can work something out. We are willing to work with anyone who needs training. You don't need healers?" The boy was prying. It kind of pissed Eric off.

Eric turned and looked at Kyle. In many ways, he looked like his father. "Of course I need healers," he replied. "Healers are empaths, aren't they?"

Kyle nodded and went back to drinking his own beer. "I don't really work on these things. The trade is set up and managed by Uncle Ted."

"You mean your Aunt Kayla, don't you?" Eric asked.

Kyle took a moment, clearly annoyed by how much Eric knew. Eric enjoyed these types of exchanges. Each time he got that response, it was like he had exercised a great chess move.

"Okay," Kyle responded, "Kayla will work it out with you."

Kyle took out a piece of paper and a little pencil and wrote something on it. He flagged down the server and gave it to her, whispering something into her ear. The woman nodded and moved out, the paper in hand.

"Kayla's people will meet you in Manitou in two weeks to negotiate," Kyle said and stood.

"Are we done?" Eric asked.

"I have places I need to be," Kyle said. "Enjoy your stay. The ale is on me."

Eric thanked him and watched the young man walk out. He was able to verify another rumor as he watched. Kyle disappeared right before his eyes. One moment he was there, walking down the street. The next moment, he was gone. He just blinked out of sight. It was a bit unnerving.

Eric gathered his parka up, and threw down a couple of pennies for a tip. He still wasn't sure about the value of each, but the spies had told him a beer cost a penny. Three pennies should be a nice tip. Throwing his parka on, he walked out into the crisp air. A few snowflakes had begun to fall, and the clouds hung low in the sky.

Walking out to the horse post, he tried to look around for Kyle. He was a little concerned the boy was following him and watching his every move. He decided to ride his horse out to lose the boy.

Leaving the gate, he brought the horse to a full gallop toward his town. Stopping short at the agreed upon area and turning his horse to look at the town.

"It is on," he said with his head down so a far-off viewer wouldn't see him talking. "Two weeks and they will come. Be prepared."

"As you say, my lord," A rasping voice said from a ditch.

Eric looked into the ditch and could just make out the rotting corpse from which the sentence came. "Will this corpse be seen?"

The rasping voice answered, "No, my lord. I will leave it here to gather information. We only move at night."

Eric nodded and turned his horse toward home once more. "Oh, and Jack? If I find out you are watching me, I will tear your heart out with my bare hands. Heard?"

"Yes, lord."

Eric rode home quickly, stopping only to check in on the men at the nearest post.

# CHAPTER SIX

Kyle watched Eric Fine ride away and made his way to where he had been sitting atop his horse. He was too far away, but he would have sworn the man was talking to someone. In the past year, Eric's spies had grown more and more accomplished. But, they had never been able to figure out who they were. The kind of information Eric had access to certainly pointed to an internal mole. But, there was no evidence of who that mole might be. Kyle had half taken this meeting to see if he could gain some information of his own.

Arriving near where Eric had been, Kyle crept around searching. His light shrouding power kept him virtually invisible, but he could still be heard. So, he silently crept, looking for information. He found nothing of interest. At one point, he thought he had found someone, but it turned out to be a corpse in a ditch. The smell was awful; he would send out a detail to bury it when he got back to town.

He continued his search for some time, looking in brush and behind sight impediments. He sat for long moments, listening to the natural sounds for anything which might tell a different tale than his eyes were telling.

Finding nothing, Kyle finally turned back to the east and made his way out to see his sister as the first meeting of his journey to see the towns. Natalee Ward was in charge of the Warrior School at Mountain Shadows, training all of the Bluffs' warriors. Nat didn't get up to the Bluffs often. Her grief over the loss of their mother and the break up with Kin had taken its toll. Their father disappearing again was a last straw. He didn't get to see her often. Kyle needed to tell her about his engagement. He had promised not to tell, but Britt couldn't have meant not to tell Nat.

# MID WINTER

" _It was the time of greatest danger. When people's crops no longer grew, they banded together in the cities." –_ Jerrod Castagnon _, The Little Ice Age_

# CHAPTER SEVEN

Beneath the town of Manitou Springs, Colorado, there had long been the natural hot springs which gave the town its name. These springs existed all over Colorado, as they had for millennia. Like most hot springs in the Pike's Peak region, they had dried up in the early 1900's for some unknown reason. It most likely had something to do with the rape of resources which settlers imposed on any area during the late 1800's. The Event, and its massive rainstorm, had somehow revived the hot springs, bringing warmth and rejuvenating baths to Manitou once again. But in a deep crevice, which few knew existed, Jack Collins had found a home.

The cavern was dark, but the hot springs running beneath the rock gave it a warmth that the cold winter above could not provide. Jack had found its entrance one day, shortly after taking refuge in Manitou. He was certain that even Eric Fine did not know of its existence. This is where he performed the experiments which informed his work. It was a never-ending passion to better understand the powers they all had, and thereby, to understand his own. Since his arrival the year before, he had worked diligently to acquire more and more corpses. They often didn't last long. He told Fine that all of them went out to spy, but something told him the Fisher King didn't completely believe his story. Though his work was beneficial to the man, Jack knew that eventually he would turn on him. Eric's favor was only as strong as the recipient's usefulness. He needed to make himself valuable to everyone again.

In the year he had sequestered himself in this hideaway, Jack had burned with anger that he had been so rudely tossed aside. he hadn't done anything wrong. He had given the Wards their mother back, even if it was only for a while. The return of Calvin Ward had been unexpected, and fateful. His trip here to Manitou had been similarly unexpected and fateful, since his companion, Kim, had appealed to Eric's baser nature. This got him in the gate, and only his own powers kept him there. He had made himself increasingly valuable to the Fisher King.

Kim, on the other hand, had made herself expendable to Jack.

"Where are you headed?" she had called out to him, as he slipped toward the door to his cavern.

It was too late; she would grow curious. This was not something he looked for, but he would take advantage of any opportunity which presented itself.

"I have found a place to work," Jack replied. He liked Kim, but people did not understand his work. He had come to know that all too well when he had been thrown out of the Bluffs. "Do you want to see it?"

Kim was not the brightest. She had agreed to follow him down a dark passage, into a space of which she knew nothing. She seemed oblivious to the world in which they found themselves. She could not recognize that there was no safe place, no safe person, no one was trustworthy. The sulfur fumes were strong in the tunnel, but eventually the smell of death had become stronger and stronger.

"What is that smell, Jack?" she queried.

"Death," he responded in a whisper.

He was nearly blinded by the flash of fire that came out of her hand. But, she was not attacking, just lighting the way.

"What are you working on?"

Jack relaxed, "I am working on the cadavers to better understand healing and anatomy." It was a good save, she seemed convinced. If she knew that he worked on corpses to understand how to control the dead, her "Christian values" would have prevented her from helping. As it was, it was already too much of a threat.

She smiled, "Well, that is cool and sort of disgusting. Can we go back up now?"

Jack shook his head no. He couldn't let her leave. He wasn't ready to show Eric what he had learned. The man's motives were hard to judge, and Jack would wait until he was prepared. Kim's smile faded.

"Jack, I want to go back upstairs," her voice was shaky and full of fear. She was easily frightened, and again, not too sharp. But, even Kim Pile could sense when her doom approached.

Jack reached out with his mind and took hold of the corpses nearest her, raising them silently behind her. One of them dragged his shattered foot on the floor of the cavern and Kim turned quickly. The flame shot straight out from her hand and engulfed the walking corpse. It fell to the ground, useless. Fire was not Jack's friend and he couldn't let this go on.

"Jack, what is going on?" She asked, as the next corpse grabbed her arm. Her other hand reached out and lit that corpse aflame as well.

He only had two corpses left. Kim turned on him, anger flashing across her face. "Kim," he stated, "There is nothing to fear."

It gave him the time he need. The pause she took due to her lack of understanding of this world served him perfectly. It was only a second. The next corpse had been a warrior in life. Utilizing its skill, he punched at her head to knock her out. It did not have the desired effect.

"Jack..." Kim breathed out, and it was her last breath. The subject's bony fist had inadvertently gone up under Kim's occipital bone and into her brain. She fell to the ground dead.

"Damn it," muttered.

But, this was getting to the point that he was used to it. He had let Kate Ward die, having no hand in harming her. But, since then, he had actually killed one of his subjects. The man was a deserter who Eric had given him to experiment on as a form of torture. Much like Kim, that man had been an accident. The problem was that Kim was his friend, and he realized it didn't really bother him that she was dead. He reached out with his mind and raised her. As far as he was concerned, she was still there. He reached her hands up and had her rub her breasts, opening the shirt to bare them to him. He had always wanted to see that.

Bringing his other risen to her side, he reached into the recess of her brain where her power lied. It was a small part of the frontal lobe that was somehow tied to personality. He wondered if anyone else had discovered that yet.

She was his first kinetic, so this would be new information. He had mostly experimented with warriors, because they were most common on the fields of the dead. He had got a hold of a few empaths also, but this was new. Her power was Pyrokinesis, which would definitely come in handy. Flame had a bad effect on Jack's power, and he never understood why. Using her to conduct experiments would work nicely.

He softly triggered the part of her brain which exercised power. The effect was not what he had hoped. Her entire body immediately immersed in flame, and to his chagrin, caught the ones next to her on fire.

"No!" he cried out. Fire was the bane of his existence. It destroyed his subjects and blocked any connection Jack had. He used light stones he had stolen from the Bluffs down here because fire destroyed the part of the brain which controlled the power. His power no longer worked on the bodies after this. They were useless charcoal, even if they didn't burn all th way through.

"Motherfucker!" Jack shouted, as he watched all of his work go up in flames. He fell to his knees, feeling the pain of the bruising and without thought reached out and healed those bruises. With all of the understanding he had built, his initial training still held. Jack was a healer.

Devastated, he kneeled alone in that cavern, waiting for it to sink in. This was a tragedy for his learning. He had lost everything, all of his research was embodied in the ashes which simmered before him. He had his notes, but his subjects were gone. Since he set up this research cave, Jack had never been without subjects.

What had gone wrong? Why had her power not acted like all the others? As soon as he touched her brain with his, her power had shot out in all directions. No other corpse had behaved this way. He racked his brain searching for the answer. He knew how his power worked, it was basically a strengthening of the abilities in the brains of those on whom he worked. They didn't know it, but he had inadvertently strengthened a number of people at the Bluffs before he had realized what effect it could have on the dead.

He originally had thought it could raise them. But, he was wrong. They were essentially puppets once risen. He occasionally forgot that with the more lifelike ones, and would find himself in discussion with the recently dead. They decayed slower than an untouched corpse, but still they decayed. He could not raise skeletons, and when enough of a body had decayed, they were no longer any use to him. He would have lost these subjects anyway, he told himself.

That was it! He didn't need to feel discouraged, he just needed to raise a few more subjects. Jack stood up and dusted himself off. This was a setback, but not a long-term problem. Tonight, he would sneak out of the encampment and collect some new subjects. He hoped to find some already dead. If not, he was aware of what he needed to do. This is for the greater good. Finding a healer would do well, he wanted to see what those powers would do.

# CHAPTER EIGHT

"Lord, help us!" The cry went out and Jim sprang from the desk at which he was working.

Running out the front door, he could not believe his eyes. Even after all that had happened in these end times, he was shocked to see what he now saw. Swooping in front of him was a young, dark-skinned man with expansive white wings. He was the text-book definition of an angel.

Angels were the epitome of vigilance and compassion. However, there was no compassion emanating from this angel. The being picked one of Jim's parishioners up and threw him harshly across the center of Chapel Grounds. The man landed with a thud, and held his chest. Jim guessed the man broke ribs. Staring up to the sky, he saw even more of them circling, including one with raven-black wings. They were male and female. These were no true angels. They were an abomination of Annie Grace. He could feel their power tug at him, but they weren't even using any powers that he could feel. One of the female angels dropped right down, knocking a woman to her back and pinning her to the ground with a foot.

"Please," the woman gasped, and received a kick in the face for her request.

"Stop this right now, in the name of God!" Jim shouted as he tried to get closer so he could perhaps drain their abilities.

"What God is that, Preacher?" Asked one of the angels, as he glided down behind Jim. "I don't see any God at work here. All I see is hypocrisy and theater."

"God does work here," Jim began, recognizing that his drain was not having much effect because the angels were using physical power, not mystical power. If the Lord's Hammer was still intact, he would have drained their physical power as well. "We are His people. We are the Faith. We have no disagreement with you. What is the meaning of this?"

Another of the creatures landed beside him, "Rumor has it you killed one of our friends."

"We have killed no one," Jim sputtered, "We have never even seen your kind before."

A female with dark hair and white wings, perched atop the chapel called out, "Our kind? What is that supposed to mean? What do you mean by our kind?"

One of the males answered before Jim could, "he must mean teens, or maybe it is just you women he hasn't seen before."

The angels all laughed and the one who spoke spread his wings wide, "What else could he be speaking of?"

"What are you?" Jim asked.

The black-winged female stared at him from where she hovered in midair, "We are Vengeance."

The dark-haired female followed with, "We are Pain."

"We are Justice," called their leader, "We will be back, Preacher. Put your affairs in order, because someone is going to pay for killing our friend."

The creatures took off, flying higher and higher until they disappeared into the ominous snow clouds. Jim walked around and helped the congregants up. None were badly hurt.

"Minister," a man called out, and Jim turned to see a whole group coming, armed with axes and picks. "Are you all right?"

"The Lord is good," Jim responded, "We are fine. Help the others and make sure no one is missing."

The angel said someone killed their friend. They must mean Annie Grace. Jim had personally tied her to the post. If the angels found out, he was a goner. How was he going change this? He pondered it for a moment, realizing that it was all in the story. The Faith was no match for creatures with not only powers, but wings.

Jim walked back toward his chapel office. Just before entering the building, he looked back over his shoulder and yelled out, "Call the board. We will need help with this, help and prayer."

# CHAPTER NINE

Not exactly thrilled to be back at the Bluffs, Nat rode through the gates toward the town center. Kyle had returned more quickly than expected and had called a council meeting. She usually didn't have to attend the meetings, but he had called for the full council. That, in itself, was unusual. She couldn't remember a time he had done that in the year he had been the Council Leader. It must be serious.

As she tied her horse to a post in the Bluffs' central square, she caught a glimpse of her ex, Kin Ko. He had clearly seen her and headed the other way. Kin had never forgiven her for not protecting his brother, Cliff. He could not see that Cliff's change had begun long before Nat had been with him on that fateful trip. She had nothing to do with it.

Kin walked away. It used to hurt her, but it had been a year. For some reason the cold didn't get to her like it did other people. As she greeted people in the square, they were all bundled up against the elements. Nat, on the other hand, wore a small leather jacket with no sleeves, over an equally sleeveless t-shirt. She liked the freedom her bare arms allowed and had not had a cold moment for as long as she could remember. Seeing her Aunt and Uncle's abode, she made a mental note to stop to see them before returning to Mountain Shadows. They still missed their daughter but kept anyone who thought of it from following her. Passing the housing unit, she almost missed the werewolf huddled up close to their door. The snow had fallen on him and he looked like a bundle of fur on the doorstep. Nat knew that Maxine Craven kept him there to guard her parents and occasionally communicate.

Nat brushed the light snow off her shoulders as she entered the Council chambers. Kyle looked up and a huge grin crossed his face, he made a bee line directly to her to give her a big hug.

"Hey, Sis!' He said, wrapping his arms around her.

"How was your trip?" She replied.

"It was good, I will go into more detail in the meeting," he answered. "You know, when I think back on my little sister, the popular, prissy girl, it is hard to see the change. Though being a badass looks pretty great on you. Do you think you could wear a coat though, just so you don't get pneumonia and die?"

Nat smiled, "You are channeling Mom."

Kyle looked down, saddened.

Nat pulled his gaze up to hers, "Thanks. It is nice to see her in your face, from time to time."

Kyle smiled again. The room was beginning to fill, and Kyle started to round everyone up to take their seats around the large round table they had built for the Council. Nat took her seat, waving hello to Emma and Jordan Kane. They had married in the summer. It was the last time she had been to the Bluffs. There were just too many bad memories here for her.

When Phineas came in, his hooves clopping against the stone floor, Kyle began. "Okay, the Council meeting will begin. Everyone is accounted for, and present. Thank you all for coming on such short notice. How is Rose, Adam?"

"Oh, she is great, man. She is crawling around, and even pulling herself up to stand. She is giving her mama a real task in keeping her from getting into everything. And, before you ask, Erica is good."

Kyle smiled. Nat noticed how her brother's easy way with others set them at ease. He had their mother's looks, but their father's natural leadership style. She was so proud of him.

The early part of this meeting was taken up with each person giving a report on their area of responsibility and making any requests. Kelly asked for healers from Adam for various assignments. Jenny and Jordan talked about a project they had worked on to help them communicate better with Cliff in his current state. Phineas gave a gruff report about security and followed with a report on how the demi-humans were getting along. Others gave their reports, and Nat tried her best to pay attention. It felt an awful lot like classes in high school to her. Eventually, when all had spoken, Kyle got into the purpose of their meeting.

"As you all know," Kyle began, "I toured the towns and outposts to see how they are doing. The good side of the report is that they seem safe and thriving. The bad part, that which caused me to return more quickly, is the chaos. There is no government in the towns, and they wait for us to decide. Even the people we have sent do not have the authority to make decisions, and do not know how to take charge. As such, I thought we need to assign leaders from this council to each town. Additionally, and this will not make all of you happy, we need those leaders to reside in those towns."

Kyle waited for any response. It was silent at first. Nat was pretty sure she knew where she would be, the same place she had been for the last year. When the mumbling began, it was more about placement than duty.

Kyle continued, "Adam, Nat and Niall have shown that their presence in the towns around the schools have made those towns the most ordered. They are also the towns which advance the quickest into better economies and better socialization."

"How are you choosing assignments?" Jordan asked.

"I thought we could all decide together," Kyle replied.

Phineas snorted, "You are the leader. Give us our assignments. No one here will balk at responsibility."

Looking around, Kyle wasn't getting any resistance, so he continued. "Well, some are obvious. Adam and Erica will continue to be leaders at Hillside. As will Nat at Mountain Shadows, Emma and Jordan at Rockrimmon, and Niall at Briargate. Those made the most sense, because you all were already in charge of the schools there. You will just add the towns to your responsibilities as leaders."

There was general nodding and assent. This seemed to surprise and please Kyle. He added, "As for the others, there are reasons for all of them. I want Phineas to take both the Northwoods and Pine Creek townships. There are still a lot of demi-humans in the area, and one of their own shows how much we respect you and value you."

Phineas nodded, and Kyle turned toward Jenny, "You are a natural leader, and I would like you to take on two townships as well."

"Sure," she answered, "Where am I headed?"

"Downtown and Sand Creek."

"Cool," Jenny laughed, "Back to where my studio was."

"As well as the museum and some other spots at which we might be able to gain some knowledge," Kyle followed. "Also, we should talk about setting up a research center. Don't you think?"

"Oh, Kyle!" Jenny exclaimed, "That would be amazing. I just wish Cliff could join us."

He continued, "Kelly, I know it is small and less populated, but we need a good leader at the Carson Town. They are in desperate need of a healer also, so take some with you. We can serve people coming up from the south in that way. I feel confident you can build that town up."

"I will do my best," Kelly replied, "Thanks for your confidence in me."

Kyle nodded, "I also would like you to oversee Soaring Eagles."

A big sigh went around the room, and Kelly's head dropped. "Ugh," he stated, "There are some of the Faith out there."

"I know," Kyle answered, "That is why I needed a softer hand. Do you all accept your assignments?"

The whole group agreed.

"Excellent," he said with a grin, "Then we need to start calling you town leader, instead of council member. People need to know they have a leader."

"Town Leader?" Nat had not even noticed Britt until he spoke up from the bench at the back. "That is the worst title I have ever heard."

The group laughed, and Nat jumped up to give her brother's fiancé a big hug. She wasn't sure if they had told everyone yet, so she kept her knowledge about them to herself. She gave him a knowing look and whispered, "Congrats, bro!"

Britt looked past her with a look of shocked indignation which quickly switched to a laugh.

Kyle laughed also. "Yeah, it sucks," he stated, trying hard not to bring attention to what he assumed Nat was saying to Britt. "Anyone have a better idea? Hell, call yourself whatever you want. Just call yourself something that lets people know you are in charge."

Walking over to Britt's side, Kyle turned to the group, "And I wanted to make an announcement. Britt and I have decided to marry in the Spring. So, please make sure you can return then for our nuptials."

The meeting ended as the group erupted in congratulations and hugs all around. Everyone was happy for the two of them, but none more so than Nat. To see her brother and Britt together was to know what love looked like. It was beautiful. Her parents had always had a special connection, and she could see that same connection in her brother and Britt. It gave her hope for her own future.

They had planned well and had an announcement party in the general chamber a little bit after the meeting. Natalee had a chance to catch up with family. Everyone but her father, who had left shortly after their mother had died and not returned yet. She missed him greatly, but it would have been untrue to say she wasn't mad that he had abandoned them.

# CHAPTER TEN

"He can't make the stone work. I must have done something wrong," Jordan stated as he adjusted the large neck collar they had made for Cliff.

Jenny moved forward into the hole in the building in which Cliff had made his lair. She patted Cliff on the nose, as hot steam came out in a snort. "Don't worry, buddy. We will figure this out."

Jordan stepped around to the front, "Cliff, this was the last stone we had. You were our only imprinter."

Cliff's great serpentine mouth moved wildly like he was biting at the air.

"Really?" Jordan queried, "Well that definitely helps."

Not knowing what Cliff's side of the conversation was had become increasingly annoying. "What did he say?" she asked.

"He can still make the stones," Jordan replied, "But he needs to put them in his mouth and they tend to be small." Jordan laughed loudly, but continued toward Cliff, "No, I am sorry man. It just hadn't occurred to me." He turned to Jenny, "He doesn't have hands. He can't pick up the stones."

Cliff lifted his front paws, as if to say, "See, I have no hands." Jenny had to suppress a smile. It was kind of adorable.

Jenny thought for a moment, then answered, "So, if we can get you stones, you can imprint them?"

Cliff's giant head nodded quickly. He turned around, almost knocking her down with his tail and walked back into the dark of the former military stronghold. Returning, he was nudging a large sack. Jenny stepped forward and grabbed the sack, opening it by pulling the drawstring.

She wasn't sure what she thought might be in there, but she was unprepared for what she found. It was a loot bag. Cliff must have taken it from a thief. There were large brown stains of dried blood on it. She really didn't want to know what he had done to that thief. Rifling through the bag, she found numerous bits of jewelry, but also a lot of coins which were the currency of the day now. Hearing the chomping of Cliff's jaws, she knew he was trying to communicate something.

"He asked if you could pry out jewels and, umm, put them in his mouth," Jordan casually told her. She knew why he was being hesitant. Cliff's maw was a dangerous place. Not only did he have four fangs of about a foot a piece, he had many small teeth in his giant lizard head. On top of that, Cliff breathed a hot steam which made it quite uncomfortable to stand in front of him. Neither of them wanted to talk to him about it, because it was sort of like telling your friend that they had really bad breath. Except they weren't sure Cliff's breath wasn't deadly.

"Sure, buddy," Jenny answered, "I can do that."

She picked through the items in the bag and pulled out a necklace, two rings and three brooches. All of them had diamonds encrusted into them. Diamonds were the most effective jewel to imprint. Jenny reached out with her mind, and touched the jewelry. It delighted her to see the scene of Cliff's obtaining the sack. The thief, it appeared, had simply dropped the sack and run at the first sight of Cliff swooping down on him. In retrospect, it was rather comical. Unfortunately, that meant the blood was from someone else.

Looking up to see Cliff waiting, his mouth agape like he was getting a dental check, she tossed each of the items into his mouth. A loud clank rang through the area, as Cliff closed his mouth. His jaw worked like he was chewing, and after a short bit, he spat the accessories out on the ground.

Steam rose from the jewelry, so she had to wait a moment. But, when enough time had passed for them to cool, Jenny picked up the items. She was astounded. They were still warm to the touch, but that wasn't the surprising part. They had been completely cleansed of any memory, and they were primed for imprint. Cliff and the Hermit, Calvin Ward, were the only people able to imprint like this. Jenny could play with them a bit, and adjust them. But she had never seen one completely cleaned of any prior influence. She looked up at him.

If it were possible for a lizard to look self-satisfied, that is how Cliff looked. "Do you know what you did?" She asked.

Cliff nodded and bared his teeth in a menacing snarl, which was his best attempt at a smile. Jenny ran up and threw her arms around his neck, giving him a hug great enough for his current size.

"What is it?" Jordan asked.

"He made them clean," Jenny said with glee.

"Okay," Jordan replied, "I don't get it."

"Every stone we have ever worked on has carried its history on it. That is why we initially looked for stones from a jewelry store. The theory was that they would have less of a history than something that had been kept in a family for a while, or even for generations at the worst. The history sort of got in the way of the imprint. Cliff can make very powerful stones." Jenny was beside herself.

"Umm, Jenny?" Jordan said.

Jenny looked up at Cliff again. His droopy eyes told her how much effort this had taken. His mouth worked slowly, while Jordan nodded next to her.

"He says he needs to take us down the mountain," Jordan said, "Each stone took a lot of power and he needs to rest. He doesn't want us stranded up here until he wakes up."

Jenny looked at the item in her hand. The necklace had six large diamonds and four small ones. The items together probably had about twenty stones in all. He had prepared twenty stones; the energy it must have taken was immense. She pocketed the items and climbed onto his back.

"Just drop us down below," Jenny said into his ear, "We will make it back on our own."

She was elated at what this meant. Not only would the stones be a boon for the Bluffs, but her friend Cliff could again feel like a huge asset to the group. She knew his separation was hard on him. As Cliff let them off down at ground level, and climbed lazily back into the air, she waved goodbye. This was a new development that Kyle would want to know quickly. She smiled at Jordan and they headed out for the long hike back to the Bluffs. If they ran into no trouble, they should be back home early tomorrow.

# CHAPTER ELEVEN

Jack waited at the edge of the stream quietly. To him, the older man's love of standing waist-deep in water on the off chance that a fish swimming by might be hungry was stupid. If you want to eat, throw netted traps into the stream. Otherwise it is a form of entertainment for the mindless. On top of that, it was the new year. The coldest time in this part of the world were the months of January and February. The ice build-up on the shore and the snow packed on the hillside were enough to keep any sane man out of freezing cold water.

Jack had never been interested in pursuits which brought him out into "nature". It wasn't that it bothered him, it just wasn't fun. He would rather study a problem and understand the solution. But his leader was another story.

"Are you just going to stand there?" Eric asked.

"Forgive me, my lord," Jack said, adding the expected title. Eric Fine's arrogance required a certain acquiescence to an ancient way of interacting. He wanted everyone to know he was the man. "You asked for me?"

Eric said nothing. He cast his line again, as though Jack wasn't there. Jack shifted on his feet. He had already been standing here for fifteen minutes before Eric spoke the first time. He was worried about how long he needed to wait for the next time but needn't have fretted.

"I gave you a task," Eric stated.

"You did," Jack replied. Eric turned and looked at him with a hard stare, "My lord."

Returning to his fishing, Eric called out, "What was the result?"

"No result, my lord," Jack was careful to use the title. If nothing else, Eric was a dangerous man.

The town's leader, or Fisher King, as others liked to call him, waded toward the bank, "Was the task too difficult?"

"Of course not, my lord," Jack answered, "they burned at least four of the corpses I had planted. I could follow Kyle Ward and get information, but I am not sure how he is passing from town to town. I would occasionally see him in the distance, but I am not sure when or how he is leaving the towns without my notice."

Jack knew exactly how Kyle was doing it and would have paid any price to get at Kyle's ability. Kyle had the power of invisibility. Jack had seen it when he had examined Kyle back at the Bluffs. He had even planted the seed within Kyle's brain which would strengthen his power if the catalyst were ever used. He had done the same for Maxine Craven, Cooper Paolo, Rose Cross, Cliff Ko, and even Natalee Ward. All of them had the potential for greatness in them, but Natalee had Jack's special interest.

He had tried to manipulate other light empaths he had risen, to exhibit the skills which Kyle had at his fingertips. But, powers were a combination of genetics, intelligence, experience and interests. They were a combination of nature and nurture. Once the person was dead, their personality departed. He could only use that part of their brain which had already developed a power. He simply had no means to create or adapt powers once one had died.

Eric finished pulling himself out of the water and sat by the stream bank, removing his waders, "Are you done with whatever is occupying your mind? I have questions."

"Of course, my lord," Jack replied, temporarily disturbed that Eric had caught him in a side thought.

"First question: what good are you if your spies get taken out so easily?" Eric asked without anger, it was clearly a legitimate question in his mind.

"Well, sir," Jack answered, slightly changing the title, "My spies mostly go unnoticed, and have gained more information than the live men you have sent out."

Eric nodded, "Question number two: is there anything else you can do with these corpses? Only being able to see and hear their surroundings is valuable, but if you could move them."

Jack needed to tread carefully. It had been a mistake to even let Eric know he could hear and see through the eyes of the risen. Eric had never asked how he got the corpses in place, and Jack just described that as "moving the corpses". He did not want to reveal that he could physically move their bodies. If he let Eric know all he could do, the man would see him as a danger. Jack was not prepared for that scenario, not yet.

"Unfortunately, my lord," Jack said, moving forward to play the dutiful servant and collect Eric's waders, "My powers are limited. But, I do believe they are useful to you."

Eric handed him the waders, giving Jack a cold once-over look, like he was trying to assess the verity of the statement. "Sometimes the powers evolve," he said, his arrogance getting under Jack's skin. "If you gain any new abilities, I want to know immediately."

"Of course, my lord," Jack replied.

The walk back was silent. Jack did everything in his power not to show his true emotions. As soon as he had returned Eric's items to the command building, he took his leave and made his way to the secret cavern.

Once in the safety of his hideout, he exploded, "How dare that pompous, small man! Does he not know with whom he is dealing?"

"Of course, he does not," came a raspy voice from out of the dark. He didn't mind so much that his own thoughts answered him out of the dark, out of the throats of the risen he kept in the cavern. It had taken a little time, but he had found corpses of those who died in the chill winter. Two had almost no ability at all. Jack used them to provide additional light and to do manual labor around the cavern. The third was a healing empath.

It had actually been this empath, and Jack's attempted use of her skill, which had caused the death of one of the others. Being a healer himself, Jack had never thought to use another's healing skill. Since he was at distance, he decided to treat a nearby injured person and see what happened. What happened was something new altogether. In direct proportion to the amount of healing applied, the risen drained the life of the other. It seemed that healing from a live person was a giving of one's own life. Whereas healing from the dead person was a giving of one's own death. The problem was how much energy it took to utilize the risen healer's power. Jack slept for almost a full day after this experiment. He could never produce this experiment with enough time and emphasis for it to be effective. Proximity matters, and people would crawl away when he was trying to drain them.

"I need to understand my own powers. Now where can I go to study what I can do?" he asked into the cold stillness of the cavern.

The reply was light and airy, but it was from the deepest recesses of his thoughts, "Maxine Craven..."

"Of course," he said to no one in particular. "A new experiment, perhaps? How can I send anything to her, when I can't get close enough?"

This was a dilemma for which he currently had no answers. He desperately wanted out of Eric's camp. The man was not only arrogant. He was also volatile. He would never harm the child, but perhaps one of those demi-humans which Kim Pile had hated so much. His eyes showed him that little Maxine's pack now included half-human, half-wolf creatures. If he could access one of their minds, perhaps he could access the pack mind. This might give him the ability to utilize a little of her immense power. He would have to think on this. But for now, he needed to get more eyes in the field, if only to appease his overlord.

# CHAPTER TWELVE

"It's true. I heard it myself," Lance added.

Izzy looked over at Tristan and he nodded. She began, "Artie, she gave us the world. She made us angels, and that thing killed her. From everything we have been told, the beast burned her to death. We can't just let that go."

Artie thought for a moment, playing with the gravel below his feet on this rocky perch, "It is a pretty big animal."

Gwen glided from her perch to get a little closer to Artie. Her stomach was distended, clearly showing the pregnancy which none of them had the nerve to bring up. She stood next to Artie and ran her fingers through his hair. He looked up at her and smiled.

"Okay," Mara cut in, "I will say it. You don't want to go because Gwen is pregnant."

Gwen laughed loudly and punched Artie on the arm, "I win."

"Shit," Artie exclaimed.

Tristan burst out in laughter of his own, "You bet how long it would take to bring it up, didn't you?"

"No," Gwen answered with a mischievous grin, "That would have been good. We bet who would be the first to bring it up. I had Mara."

"Thanks," Mara answered.

"Artie had Lance, and Perk had Izzy," Gwen continued.

"You knew, Perk?" Lance shouted at him and threw a pine cone, catching him on the shoulder.

"Come on, we all knew," Perk replied, "I was just in on the bet. I can't believe how long you have all waited to say anything."

Artie grinned, "Yeah, I wasn't sure whether you would all wait until the kid was three or four before mentioning it."

"Good job keeping it to yourself," Tristan smacked Perk on the shoulder before flying up to a higher perch.

Izzy was amazed how her love never seemed to want to stay still. He liked to keep moving, and she liked to move with him. She spread her wings, letting the air lift her up.

"Wait," Lance called out, "we are still talking about this."

Tristan and Izzy floated back down, taking their positions in the circle. They held each other closely, though, not wanting this discussion to ruin their intimacy.

"But, that is it, right?" Mara asked, "you don't want to go because Gwen is pregnant?"

Artie nodded, putting his hand gently over Gwen's abdomen.

"So, the rest of us go," Izzy stated flatly.

There really was no question as to whether they would go. There were no better warriors suited to fight the killer of their friend, Annie Grace. This monster could not be left alive to harm others.

Mara stood up, "Obviously."

Artie shook his head, "I am not comfortable with you guys going on your own."

"Take it easy, boss," Tristan called out, "you don't have to be there for everything."

Artie took a short breath and sighed, "Fair enough. But make it quick. Kill that bastard and get back to the nest. I will stay with Gwen. You guys know where he is?"

"All the reports say the same thing, we know where he is," Lance answered.

Artie nodded, "Done."

"It will be," Tristan stated as he rose again into the air, motioning for Izzy to follow him.

The cold wind was whipping wildly around, which made for a fun flight. They would soar and tumble, flap and glide. In the late-night sky over Pike's Peak, snow and ice pelting their bodies, but not bothering them at all, Isabel Sanchez and Tristan Stone flew together as one.

They would come together in midair and embrace, free-falling for hundreds of feet before pushing away from one another and shooting their wings out into the whistling wind. Izzy loved their dance in the air, as she called it. Ever since the change which Annie had given them, none of them ever got cold. They couldn't tell if they had a higher body temperature, or just higher cold resistance, but they could fly in any weather, as high as they wanted. They also could breathe better at the higher altitude, though too far above the peak and they would still get light-headed. Izzy was sure Tristan would have tried to fly to the moon if they had not discovered the thin air at what they assumed to be roughly twenty-five-thousand feet. Even they could not go that high.

She kissed him deeply and fell away, knowing he would catch her before she even spread her wings. He did, as he always did. His strong arms held her tightly as he landed at their nest, a little separate from the single folks. One of the great qualities of their new bodies was the ability to sleep just about anywhere. The single people really just perched. Only the two couples had nests to speak of. Izzy thought about Artie and Gwen's child.

"Is that something you want?" she asked, and Tristan gave her that look that let her know she had started a conversation in the middle of a thought. She often forgot that he didn't know what was happening in her head. "A child, sorry, do you want a child?"

"I haven't really thought about it," he replied, "I am willing to work on one if you want." He grinned and pulled her close.

"Yeah," she answered, "trying is always fun." She laughed and began to remove her clothes.

"Wait," he said softly, "are you serious? Is that something you want? Would you be okay bringing a baby into this?"

She stopped what she was doing and pondered the question, "I don't know. I never thought about it either. I know I love you, and I know we would be good parents. But, I wouldn't want the kind of protectiveness that Artie is showing right now. If you ever did that, I would kick your ass from here to the old city and back."

He laughed, pulling her in, "I am sure you would. You are a tough bird; you know that?"

"I do," she answered him, running a finger along his arm. "I can be tender though."

"Oh, don't I know it," he replied.

They made love for hours, it felt like. Tristan was a dream lover, giving and tender or rough and playful at all the right times. He knew her, knew what she liked, and took care of her in a way she had only ever dreamed about.

Afterward, they stood naked in each other's arms. Intimacy was different now that their bodies were different. On top of that, Tristan was the only man she had ever been with. And, they had only been together since the Event. Izzy didn't know how anyone other than the two of them engaged in pleasure. She didn't care. She wanted to keep it up for as long as she lived and wanted to be with Tristan for her whole life.

After a few moments, he said, "So, we go in the morning."

She nodded, "It will be good to wipe this monster from the planet. Our friend is gone, but we will get her justice."

"That we will, my love," he answered, "And on top of that, we get to slay a dragon!"

She smiled and held him close. The dragon had taken up residence at the old military base inside NORAD. Tomorrow morning, they would fly down and kill it in its lair. Once that was done, they could again think about families.

# CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Jack calmed himself, centering his mind. Sending a dozen risen is something he had never done. Additionally, he was testing the limits of his distance. One of those focus stones would come in handy.

As he reached out with his mind, a dozen different perspectives filled his mind. He became instantly dizzy; it was too much. He removed himself and felt the dozen risen collapse back to the earth. He needed them closer to eliminate the variable of distance, but he could not allow Eric to discover what he was doing. The man was a fool, but very quick to act once he figured something out.

An idea formed in his mind and he left the cavern, silently slipping into the town of Manitou. He needed to strengthen his abilities, and he knew exactly how to do it. He needed to strengthen his DNA, the way he had strengthened for the Wards, Cooper, Rose, Cliff and Maxine. There was a simple mechanism whereby he could effect this change. But once used, he could not control it, and it would strengthen everyone.

That, of course, would not do. The point was to make Jack more powerful than everyone else, not make everyone else just as powerful. He still dreamed of being so powerful that the Bluffs would finally welcome him back.

"Halt!" called out a sentry.

"It is Jack Collins," Jack answered.

"What were you doing out this way?" the sentry asked.

"Not that it is any of your business," Jack replied, "But I was walking around searching the buildings. The Lord Marshall..."

"King Eric," corrected the sentry.

"Yes, of course. King Eric asked me to look for some items," Jack lied.

"What items?" the man asked.

"His majesty did not tell me to share his thoughts on this," Jack said, turning to face the man, "perhaps we should go ask him. I have heard he loves being questioned."

The man shifted on his feet. "Carry on," he stated.

Jack took note of the man. It probably would not do well for his movements to be known. His new idea would probably be best suited to have that sentry by his side. Jack sauntered into the headquarters to find the town King lounging in front of a fire eating dried meat.

"My lord," Jack called out.

"Good evening, Jack," the small community monarch replied. "What brings you into my office?"

"I had an idea I wanted to run by you," Jack offered.

"Continue," Eric stated flatly. It drove Jack nuts the arrogance this man exhibited.

"You have often mentioned our small location, and the limited scope this provides," Jack began, "What if our scope were not so small."

He needed to be careful and make it seem like Eric's idea. So first the misdirection. "I think we should take the Carson town the Bluffs has set up."

"That would start a war," Eric dismissed the whole idea.

"But, my lord," Jack interrupted, a calculated "mistake" which brought the look of warning he was expecting. "You conquered Carson in the Battle of Carson. On top of that, leaving Downtown does not mean it is no longer yours."

Eric thought about it for a moment, "Perhaps diplomacy is better than a fight with a larger force."

"As you say, sire." Jack acted like he was done and turned to leave. "However,..." he said almost to himself.

Eric sighed loudly, "However what?"

"I am thinking of your orders about spies," Jack began.

"Continue," Eric breathed out.

"Would it be better to have an outpost close to Carson, just in case?" Jack asked cautiously.

"Like the one we have north on our border with the Bluffs?" Eric queried, "It is already small and ineffective."

Jack took a step back toward Eric, "That is true. What about a town of our own though? We could build our population, give a refuge to people fleeing the Bluffs' rules or the Faith's oppression and give a reason for a larger compliment... in case it ever comes to battle."

"Arguably, rebuilding the compound at the old resort would raise no eyebrows," Eric slipped right into Jack's plan. "There may be corpses there," He raised out of his seat and began to pace, as Jack had learned was his manner while planning. "If I sent you, we could "dispose" of corpses in a manner which would provide the greatest intelligence."

"Me, my lord?" Jack feigned disapproval. "I would really prefer to remain here in the walled town."

Eric turned on him, "You will do what I have asked."

Jack pretended to be cowed by the leader's outburst. "Of course, my lord. I am no fighter though. Could I take a couple of guards?"

"Sure," Eric replied with a dismissive smirk, "You can take the men from the western sentry post. They don't do anything anyway. Four men will be plenty."

"Thank you, sire," Jack stammered out, "Don't you think it would be better to send the stronger warriors from the force?"

"That is all, Mr. Collins." Eric turned and sat back before his fire, completely ignoring Jack after that.

Jack left the headquarters, very pleased with himself. That had gone just as he had planned. He led Eric down the path, and the man had responded just as Jack needed him to. He also would not question Jack's motives, since it seemed to be in direct opposition to Jack's stated interest. Nor would Eric question that Jack had no one with him who could provide much physical deterrence, since he was bringing low power guards. Eric believed he was keeping Jack weak, so he would not think of running off. But, it is all Jack wanted. By using these guards, rather than skilled warriors, nothing could interfere with his plans.

As Jack walked off to his quarters, he did not turn around to see the Fisher King watching him go. It might have given him more pause if he had.

# SPRING APPROACHES

" _After the war, men returned to their homes, bringing the contagion all across the planet." -_ Jeffrey Pillow, _The Great War_

# CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The smoke rising above the town was dark, but not foreboding. It was the kind of smoke common for a town of this size, burning its own waste, cooking its own food, heating its own homes. Walking up with his contingent, Kelly appraised the situation rather quickly. The gates were wide open. There were no guards, and the people milled about chaotically. One could feel the lack of order in the air.

Carson township had been built on the northern side of old Fort Carson, where the battle of Carson had been fought and thousands had been slaughtered just a couple of years before. The snow was light, and the sun was bright as it peered through the light clouds from which the snow was falling. As Kelly and his group walked up to the gates, a few people stopped to look, but most passed by.

Standing in the town center, Kelly looked for any building which might look like the Headquarters. It was to no avail, as all of the buildings looked the same.

"Greetings," said a short man with a long beard as he walked toward them. "You the healer Kyle said he would send?"

"Yes," Kelly replied, shaking the man's hand with a warm smile, "Among other things."

"Can't wait to hear about it," The man stated, "our barracks are just around the corner here. We probably don't have enough beds for this many, though. How many you got?"

"Twenty warriors, a terra, a gardener," (what they now called the empaths who worked with plants) "and another healer." Kelly looked around. This place was just disgusting. Not only was there no order, but people seemed to throw their trash and refuse out into the common areas.

"That seems like a lot for this town," the soldier replied.

"It is," Kelly answered, "I have been tasked with leadership of this town and Soaring Eagles."

"What," the man asked, "like you are the governor or lord of the area?"

"Something like that," Kelly answered good-naturedly. "I don't have a title yet. The council directed us to find our own."

"Well," the man said, "This is it. These are our barracks. We have about six free bunks. This town never had an admin building, so your terra will have to get to that. I am Captain Janos, the head of the guard here. We had sixteen, but if we get half of these, we will have twenty-six. We will probably need a second floor on the barracks."

Kelly nodded, "thank you, Captain Janos."

"You are most welcome, Lord Kelly," The man made an awkward bow and Kelly laughed.

"How did you know my name?" he asked.

Janos smiled, "I was in the group that marched on the Faith, and at the Bluffs when they named you to the council."

"Oh," Kelly responded, "I am sorry I don't remember you."

"We didn't meet," Janos replied, "I just saw your seating on the council. There were a lot of people there that day."

"There were," Kelly answered, "We will put four warriors in with you, but the rest will make camp outside the walls while we build up. Are there any issues of which I need to be aware?"

"Not really," the older man stated, "Our squad of warriors haven't been here that long. We have people from all over and they aren't too clean, as you can see. We are beginning to notice people getting sick from a cold. It isn't unusual for this time of year, but it sticks around. Not too bad, no fever, just sniffles and mild coughs."

"Alright, thank you, Captain," Kelly replied, "Let's get our healer to take a look at the sickest first."

"As you wish," Janos stated, and walked off to do his duty.

Kelly turned to the Terra, "How long to build a second story here, an admin building and a hall?"

The woman thought for a moment, "Without help? A few weeks at least."

"Very well," Kelly answered, "We better get started right away if we want to have a warm place to sleep in a few weeks."

The Terra looked at him and smiled, "Why don't I start on the second floor of barracks. That will give us a place to sleep within the week, then I can expand the walls and add the other buildings."

"That is a great idea," Kelly added, "Thanks."

He turned, giving direction to the other warriors. He told the other healer to stay and help the town, maybe get folks to clean up, and gathered the gardener and ten of the men.

"It is probably best for us to move on and make this as quick as possible," he stated, "Let's get moving to Soaring Eagles."

The twelve of them moved out immediately, making their way east toward Soaring Eagles, a place which had a worse reputation than even Carson, if that were possible.

# CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"Mr. Collins?" One of the sentries asked, but Jack already knew why he had come. There was a man walking their way in the garb of a priest.

"What is it?" Jack queried. He had to keep up the illusion of ignorance, or the sentries might discover they were completely surrounded by a squad of newly risen warriors, slumped into the ground like good little corpses.

"There is a man walking this way," The man stuttered out, "Looks like a preacher."

Jack nodded. Rising to his feet, he said, "Bring him to me."

The wait wasn't long, but Jack used it well. He moved the corpses ever so slightly, having them nudge and crawl closer to the camp. His time was about right. He had carefully planned his move to the old compound and had chosen men for their stupidity.

The man they brought into the camp was exactly who he thought he would be. He was mid-20's with blonde, curly hair and wore a collared frock, similar to a priest's robe.

"Padre," Jack said in greeting. He could feel the tug on his powers. This was a most opportune meeting. He had not yet worked with a void mystic. This man would be his first.

"Why are you detaining me?" The priest asked, "I am on my way to see Eric Fine."

"King Eric," one of the sentries corrected him. He spun his head around to look at the man but did not change what he had said.

Turning back toward Jack, he added, "He will be expecting me. I don't think you want to get on his bad side."

Jack chuckled. "No, I don't. But, he also isn't expecting you. It is interesting and thoroughly unsurprising to find a lie come from the lips of a man of the cloth."

The man paused, the silence between them growing a tension. "My name is Jim..."

"Yes, I know who you are," Jack cut him off, "You were one of the Lord's Hammer."

"You were there?" Jim asked. He must be talking about the battle at Sand Creek where the Lord's Hammer had been so well defeated when the Hermit had come to the rescue.

"No," Jack answered softly. "but your reputation precedes you. Also, I can feel the tug on my powers from any void mystic." Shock covered Jim's face with the statement. Jack continued, "Now, kindly reduce your drain, or I will have one of these men hit you over the head with a rock." He felt the drain immediately leave, "Now, that is better. I am the healer and chief counselor for King Eric at Manitou. What can we do for you?"

"Why are you out here?" Jim asked looking around.

"We are traveling to another of our outposts," Jack answered calmly. One of his risen stepped on a branch, making a crack in the night. The sentries turned to look, Jack motioned for one of the two to go check it out. "Continue," he said to Jim.

The man began a long story, and Jack nodded appropriately. But, he wasn't really listening. In his mind, he was arranging the risen to achieve his goal. As the other sentry left the campsite to investigate, Jack could see him through the eyes of a hidden risen. He caused that corpse to rise silently and walk up behind the sentry. The man kneeled over the corpse that had caused the sound. Jack could see through both of the Risen's eyes. So, as the man leaned close he acted with both. The risen to the rear pulled a blade across the kneeling man's throat, silencing him, while clamping a dead, fleshy hand over the sentry's mouth. Then, while holding with the one to the rear, the risen on the ground reached up and repeatedly stabbed the sentry in the abdomen, perforating his diaphragm to reduce the possibility of making noise. Something Jim said brought him back.

"Wait," Jack asked, "you are saying Angels are attacking you?!"

"Yes," Jim sighed in exasperation, "haven't you been listening?"

Jack made the silent hand gesture for kill to the sentry and saw the slight nod. "No," Jack replied, "I wasn't listening. My mind was elsewhere."

"Then what was the point of me telling the story," Jim shot back angrily.

"Oh, it was just biding time," Jack stated calmly, "so my man here could get in place."

Blood sprayed out of the chest wound caused when the sentry drove his short blade through the Minister's back ribs and out the front of his chest. Reaching out with his mind, Jack observed the cut to the aorta which would bleed the man out internally in less than a minute. Jim put up a fight though, reaching out with his own power to try to drain them both. It didn't work, of course, because they had physically attacked the man and used no powers at all.

Jack leaned in close to him, "Oh come now," he whispered, "there isn't time for that."

He watched the life leak out of the man's eyes and begin the fade to milky irises so common among the dead. He had done it. He had killed the last of the Lord's Hammer. The Bluffs would surely accept him back now.

Jack silently reached his power into the man's brain and studied the power source and its make-up. He took careful note of the virus the man was carrying. It was a form of the flu, but strangely mutated to feed on the portion of the brain in which the powers were settled. It gave him a wonderful idea. What if he didn't need to "work" on himself? What if he could just change the virus so that it did the strengthening on its own? He gave himself a quick self-exam and realized he was already infected. He guessed everyone was. This would take time and work, but he was sure he could ensure his own safety and power forever. This was the answer to his dilemma. It was very fortuitous. The trigger was already being laid across the area, and beyond. This would ensure that it all went his way.

"Pick him up," Jack commended, "he is going with us."

"What?" The sentry asked, "He is too heavy for me to carry to the old compound.

Jack looked into the sentry's eyes, "I wasn't talking to you," he said, pointing behind the man. "I was talking to them."

The man turned just in time to see the seven risen, including his former friend, drive their blades into various parts of his body. The man was a kinetic, Cryo if Jack remembered properly. As such, he was no use to Jack. He dismantled the man's body with his risen, simply because he could.

Pushing his mind into each of his new companions, he put them to work breaking camp and carrying goods. He raised Jim and ensured that the man's power did not work against Jack. It did not. It would be best to arrive at the compound by night. In order to protect himself, he would need to raise hundreds, if not thousands more. There was much work ahead to bring his plan to fruition. But, this was a good start.

# CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Letting the wind catch her wings, Izzy felt the ground fall away beneath her feet. She flapped her wings three times to gain some height, then spread them out to soar as her team gathered around. The formation complete, she made a mental note of the others. Her love, Tristan, was to her right and slightly behind. Mara, Perk, and Gavin were off to the left. Finally, this mission's leader, Lance was directly ahead of her. Their formation complete, they began their descent from the Eyrie at the top of Pikes Peak down the east side of the mountain.

The trip would not take long, but they were up against a foe they neither knew, nor had seen. A Dragon!! But, we are angels, Izzy reassured herself. Many had never seen their like before either. There was something in that thought which stuck in her mind. She knew there was something she should be seeing, but it was blocked from her conscious thought. It didn't matter, for now she needed to think about the mission.

Lance had planned it all. They would approach NORAD from high to the west. If the creature were set up inside, as reports suggested, the huge door's opening faced south. Nothing could expect an attack from high to the west, so they should be on top of it before it even noticed their approach. They would swoop in above and deal a quick killing blow without a fight. This would be justice for Annie's death. What was it about Annie and this creature that was gnawing at the back of her mind? She just couldn't place it.

As they approached, Izzy could feel the storm in the air. She had an ability with weather, and Lance had wanted to shield their approach. Reaching out with her mind, she formed the clouds low. They were wet clouds, full of blowing ice. This wasn't her intent, but her anxiety had taken hold. For some reason, her ability was greatly impacted by emotion. She could only control it when she could control her feelings.

Lance looked back at her and smiled. He knew what the ice meant. He knew his friend was nervous. He gave her a reassuring nod and the group split, with the left side going around to the east of the mountain. They all landed in their places, the ground clouds too heavy to see through.

"Izzy?" Lance called out.

"Got it," she replied and turned a little wind on at their location.

As the fog-clouds blew away, they were all surprised by what they saw. The great door at the opening of the Mountain was sealed shut. There were bushes which had grown beneath and around it. There was no chance this door had been opened since the Event. They peered around and shrugged at one another. Perhaps this was just a rumor after all.

Izzy thought she was the first to hear it. She was certainly the first to react. A sound like their wings, but different, came from out of the clouds overhead. She would not have known what it was were it not for the great shriek that rent the air. The beast had arrived, and they no longer had an element of surprise.

It landed with a great thud right behind them. Izzy turned, to see she was only about a car's length in front of it. The thing chomped at the air with huge teeth. Its head was the size of a horse, and its body that of an eighteen-wheeler. It had a tail which stretched out behind it, which flicked around in a nimbler fashion than Izzy would have been able to imagine. Great legs propped it up, each tipped by enormous, sharp claws. But the most impressive factor was definitely its wings. They were huge!!

The thing moved closer, but Tristan was quick, he sprinted to her side, grabbing her and climbing into the air. Izzy pushed off to fight the following beast, but as she looked, it stood on the ground watching them. She pulled her bat out, and the team sprang into action. Their attacks were fast and furious, but only seemed to entertain the beast.

Izzy saw Lance's hands light up with fireballs, as he brought his power to bear. What happened next was fairly unexpected, to say the least. Rather than run, the dragon turned right at Lance. Lance unleashed his power, throwing the fireballs like the all-league pitcher he had been. But, the dragon chomped at them, biting them out of the air like bubbles for a puppy. After a dozen or so attempts, Lance stopped, only to see the dragon spit all of the fireballs back into the air in a great rush of fire that would have been beautiful if it weren't so terrifying.

Izzy gathered her lightning into her own hands and shot the purple plasma directly at the great lizard. It spun quickly and caught the lightning on a wing. It had no effect on the creature. Those with more physical powers went immediately into action. Perkins, whose ability was great strength attacked from the front, while Gavin surrounded the beast's head with flashes of light. The serpent reacted deftly, its nimble tail lashing out and catching Gavin in midair, tossing him into some nearby bushes. With its sight suddenly clear, it lowered its head to a rushing Perk, ready to fight.

"NO!!!!" The words did not come from the beast's mouth, but from a collar around its throat which Izzy had not seen until now. The serpent seemed just as confused as she was. "Oh," it said through the glowing gem on the collar, "that is how it works?"

Each of the angels stopped where they were. The thing could communicate.

"Why are you attacking me?" it said.

"For justice!' Gavin called out, pulling himself from the brambles. He had a large scratch across his head, but that seemed his only injury.

"What justice?" it asked.

Mara stepped forward, "We do not need to explain ourselves to you, beast!"

"Well," the dragon argued, "You come to my home uninvited, attack me, and then tell me it is justice? Yeah, you are going to need to explain." It huffed, and a small amount of fire came out, which clearly seemed to thrill the thing, as he did it three more times before a great snarl appeared on its maw.

"After all," it continued, "It is clear we are brothers and sisters. We should be together."

"What do you mean?" Lance queried.

"It seems obvious you were transformed by Annie Grace," The lizard responded.

It hit her. She knew what was gnawing at the back of her mind. Someone had to make a dragon, there were none before the Event. He was a creation of Annie Grace.

"Why did you kill her?" Izzy spat out, with more venom than she intended.

"Kill her?" the dragon answered, "She was my friend. I mourned her. The Faith burned her at the stake for being mystical. We made the ones pay who did it, though."

"We?" Tristan asked.

"Me, and my friends from the Bluffs," it responded. "My name is Cliff Ko. Annie made me a dragon."

"But," Lance cut in, "Annie only helped people who wanted her help. Except us, she didn't know she was making us on the day of the Event. You wanted to be... this?"

"Of course," Cliff responded, "I love being a dragon. There was only one group she didn't mean to make, she called them the A group. Is that you?"

Izzy looked at her friends, the smiles building on all of their faces.

Mara laughed loudly, "She called us the A Group?"

Cliff's giant lizard head nodded.

"Is that because you are Angels?" he asked.

"No," Mara replied, "It is what we were called in High School."

"Wait," Cliff's jewel pulsed, "Did you go to Pine Creek?"

"Cliff Ko?" Gavin asked, "Is your brother Kin?"

Cliff nodded.

"You guys," Gavin said, "The Korean guy, second baseman, like two years ahead of us. Kin Ko, he was a cool guy."

"Still is I assume," Cliff replied, "Though he hasn't come to see me since I turned. Who told you guys that I killed Annie?"

They all looked at each other. With anger in their voice, they responded in unison, "The Faith."

Izzy's anger burned. Not only had these people hurt her friend, they had told lies to get them to hurt an innocent. "We will make them pay."

"Don't," Cliff answered, "Please don't. You can never know if they knew they were lying. People tend to repeat what they are told. If we continue this chain of retribution, we go from being the agents of justice to be the agents of destruction. It has to stop somewhere. Let it stop with you."

Izzy was surprised by the forgiveness and grace coming from the mouth (or neck) of a great serpent. It made her ashamed. She was so hell bent on the destruction of enemies, that she missed her humanity. Cliff was right.

"Your powers are cool," Cliff said, "Can I ask you about them?"

They proceeded to tell stories and talk about powers. Cliff told them about the Bluffs, and some guy named the Hermit. It was almost dark when they left. They had a new friend, and their world was getting bigger.

# CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

She heard the sound of a person moving through the trail in the growing dusk, but had nowhere to hide. On each side of her, there was stacked up snow. This particular winter storm was blanketing the area with a dense layer of wet icy weather. She might be able to cover herself and hide, but she really didn't have the time. How dumb was it to come out alone?

Remaining perfectly still, she waited just to see if whoever was coming around the bend was a danger. The gushing wind, combined with heavy snowfall, made her visibility only about ten yards. She saw the outline of a person first, far off in the distance. Only as the figure trudged close enough did Jenny realize it was a man.

Bundled, as the man was, in a combination of an old, ratty parka and the furs of animals, she could not make him out until he got close. As his face came into focused, she relaxed, but he did not.

Calvin Ward, or the Hermit as he was known far and wide, walked straight for her. He was disheveled, and his beard had regrown. She smiled, fully expecting him to begin the wild gestures she had grown to mildly understand in her short time with him years before. When he opened his mouth and spoke, it really took her aback.

"Jenny Martinez," he croaked out in a gravelly, slow voice.

"You can speak," she replied with a warm smile.

"Burn them," he stated.

Jenny was shocked by the instruction and had no idea to what or whom he referred. She stared at him, a dumbfounded look on her face. "What?" she stuttered.

"Burn your dead," he reiterated.

"Which dead?" She asked him.

Cal heard something and moved quick as a cat. While Jenny had found no place to hide in the falling snow and ice, the Hermit had no such problems. In a flash, Cal was just not there. He slipped into the blowing ice and snow and disappeared from sight. Eventually, she began to move toward her destination. Jenny looked around for him, with no luck, before hearing what he had heard. The sound of an approach was once again breaking through the dullness of the falling snow. By the sound, it was a larger group headed her way. She braced herself again as four people rounded the corner.

As they drew closer, Jenny relaxed again. They wore the patches which had been made for different groups. This was a squad of warriors from Mountain Shadows.

"Ms. Martinez?" The man in front queried.

"Yes, hello," Jenny said in greeting.

"We were sent to find you," he followed. He looked around behind her. "Was someone else here? We thought we heard voices."

Knowing intrinsically that Calvin Ward had hidden for a reason, the man did everything for a reason, she decided not to say anything about him for now. "No, just me. I must have been talking to myself. These long walks get lonely. Did you guys see anyone else?"

"No, ma'am," the man replied, "we were sent to find you. The Captain was afraid you might get lost in the snow."

"The Captain?" she asked.

"Town Captain Natalee Ward," the man clarified, and it reminded her that she would have to come up with a title before she got to Downtown encampment.

"Ah," she answered, "so, you are my escort?"

"As you say, ma'am," the man agreed.

"Thank you for coming," Jenny offered, "I am grateful for the company." She sniffled and wiped her nose with her glove, "This cold is no good."

"Oh, you have it too?" the man queried. "Seems like everyone is coming down with it. Not too bad though. The flu in the winter after the Event was brutal."

She nodded, "That's true, and we have many more healers to help us through it."

They all turned the way the warriors had come and began the trek back to Mountain Shadows. Jenny would never have admitted it, but she was certainly lost. She thought the town was the other way. They came to one of the old paved roads, and she saw corpses laying by the side of the road.

"We don't see these at the Bluffs as often any longer," Jenny remarked, "I wonder what caused their deaths."

One of the warriors, a woman, coughed and replied, "Who knows, maybe it was this damn cold."

Jenny smiled reassuringly. It was rare for one of their own to exhibit cold or flu signs, but the current strain seemed to resist any attempt at a quick heal by the healers. She herself was evidence of that fact, because she had the best healers in the world at her disposal and could do nothing but make her a little more comfortable. Ever since the great flu after the Event, Adam and the healers had ensured that any illness was dealt with quickly. This one wasn't too bad, sniffles, post-nasal drip and a light cough were its only symptoms.

Thinking of what Cal had said, she bent over and picked up a branch.

"I don't suppose we have a pyro among the group?" Jenny asked.

When everyone shook their heads no, she rummaged through her pockets and found her campfire stone. Affixing it to the end of the branch, she willed the fire into existence. Its blaze was a little stronger than a normal torch would have been. But, it worked perfectly for this purpose. She said a little meditation of respect for the dead and lit the corpses on fire. Soon, the three were burning, and she felt comfortable moving on.

The squad's leader seemed perplexed, "What is that about?"

Jenny answered in as nonchalant a manner as possible, "The ground is hard. Just wanted to take care of them."

The man nodded, and they all moved on. Jenny looked forward to a warm bed and a hot fire. Her stay at Mountain Shadows wouldn't be long, just long enough for the storm. But, she could tell Nat all about the short interaction with Cal. She could tell a worried daughter that her father could now speak, though it had seemed to take him great effort to do that much.

_Great effort to do that much?_ She thought to herself. He had really exerted himself, in retrospect, just to tell her to burn the dead. What was it that was so concerning? What more was Calvin Ward trying to tell her?

# CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Eric considered his options. His vantage point was hidden, and he knew if he left it, he would give away his new knowledge to his subordinate. That would not serve his purpose. But, his anger was boiling under the surface, threatening to explode.

He had seen the corpse on his way to fish. Its' decaying stench made it impossible not to notice. Jack's mistake had been moving one of his "spies" on to land which Eric used for fishing. The only access to this lake was from Manitou, and no one was allowed up here. That meant the corpse had to be planted, which meant that Jack was spying on him.

_Damn it,_ he thought, _why didn't I see this?_

Quick thinking was natural to the Fisher King. It was also required in many situations, and this was no exception. He wanted to retain all of his options, so surprising Collins was his only choice. He couldn't be sure why the man was keeping secrets. What were his motives? There had been a time when that would not have mattered to Eric Fine. But now? He had become a better leader in the last year or so. He would never admit it to anyone, but he knew it himself. People followed him because they wanted to, not because he made them. He needed to make sure that he understood what Jack was up to before deciding how to handle it.

After getting out of sight and sound of the corpse, he circled around behind it to crush the skull and take away Jack's eyes and ears. But, what he saw from the bush behind the thing changed everything. As he crept up on it, the corpse had risen up and dragged itself closer to where Eric had gone around the bend. _Jack can animate these things!_

Though this changed the equation, making Collins a much more dangerous piece in this puzzle than he had assumed, he still needed his options open. Eric waited to make sure the thing didn't move again. Then, creeping up behind it, Eric settled into his stance, quietly. In a single move, he crushed the skull of the animated corpse. He hoped he was right about Jack now being suddenly without information. He hoped it worked like smashing a camera. He could never be sure.

Before paying the man a visit, Eric would need to form layers and contingencies. The ability to move the corpses could mean so much. Just how powerful was Jack? His plan forming quickly, he made his way back to town, passing the opening to the cavern in which Jack did his experiments. Eric had known about it for months. He would play out his elaborate ruse in order to not raise the man's suspicion. This was a game of chess, and Eric Fine was a master at it.

Back in town, Eric gathered his best actors and laid out the play for them. This is not to say that they knew they were in a play, only that the Fisher King was directing them. Eric had hand-picked the ones who most disliked Jack or were jealous of his seeming acceptance by their King. These were the old guard, the rabble, the bandits of the early days. They were men Eric knew he would have to deal with at some point. They were, in short, expendable.

Eric began, "Men, we have a traitor in our midst."

The men looked around at one another, uncertain of his meaning. People's idiocy and suspicion were useful tools, but it made him feel so set apart, so different.

"It is no one in the room," he corrected their thoughts, "It is Jack Collins. He needs to be dealt with."

Seeing the devilish grins which crept on to the faces of his men, Eric knew he had chosen wisely. Simple pawns they may be, but they act like simple pawns. Their motivations and petty jealousies were easy to manipulate. "We are going to put on a show, gentlemen. We are going to reel in the fish, and then crush it with a hammer."

The grins became slight nods.

Eric surveyed the men, choosing his words, "I have discovered that Mr. Collins has been hiding something from us. I kept it quiet, because it is disconcerting. It could cause a riot. Jack can see through the eyes of dead people, and hear through their ears."

He let the initial shock settle, then continued, "I discovered this a short time ago and gave him one requirement. He was not allowed to spy on us. Apparently, the temptation was too great. He has been doing it to you!"

Grumbling replaced the nods. Eric lied to them, since it suited his purpose. He had never told Jack not to spy on his men and Eric had known Jack's power from the first day he had shown up at Manitou. Jack was only required to not spy on Eric. But, assuming the men would be as put-off by being spied on as anyone else might be, he chose to include them now. Who was there to contradict him, anyway?

"Jack Collins has spied on us, men. Is this acceptable?"

They clearly did not think it was.

"So, here is the plan. Jack found a cave in the side of the mountain and he has been experimenting there. We go inside his little cavern hideout. But, it is important that we do not seem to have found anything. I want to draw him out. Do you think you can help me with this?"

The men's acceptance was universal. Eric laid out their ruse and prepared himself. Within an hour, they were outside the cavern entrance.

"Remember," Eric told the men, "No matter what is inside, we must react like we don't expect it. Bodies shouldn't shock us, but if we see anything move, we destroy it."

Everyone agreed, and as planned, the men entered the cavern and Eric waited outside. After a minute or two, one of the men ran out to "get the King." It was all going according to plan.

After waiting a reasonable period of time, Eric entered the cavern. He made a quick assessment, the real reason for this ruse. There was ash and body parts, but the interesting part were the two full corpses. One was on a table and another was hanging on the wall from some contraption. These were the ones they needed to put on a show for.

"What are you men doing?" he asked angrily.

The predetermined guard, Willis, answered, "Forgive me, my lord. We thought you should see what Collins is doing. Our men found this cavern. It seems to be a place he is experimenting on humans."

"I knew all about it," Eric answered dismissively. "Jack is a healer; he is studying anatomy. You will be grateful if we ever need him to work on you."

"But, my lord..." the man said.

"Don't 'but' me soldier," Eric answered, "Gather your men and get out of here. This is the workspace of a trusted lieutenant. You will not disturb it."

"Yes, my lord."

Eric turned around, "Now everyone, get out of here."

Waiting until the last man was out, Eric looked around with minor interest crossing his face. Then Eric turned the light stones out, and walking out the entrance, he nodded and the Terras with him closed it up.

Jack would not be able to gain any new information because his "spies" were sealed into the cavern. This would work out beautifully. Eric was suddenly pleased that he had kept Jack's stay with him secret. If this went sideways, and he was forced to kill Jack Collins, the Bluffs would be none the wiser. He didn't know why the man was no longer welcome, but it was likely some of the same shit he was pulling here. If worse came to worst, and he had to put Jack down, he could ask for a healer and no one would be the wiser. Jack Collins would disappear into history as that old friend who went off to the west and was never seen again.

# SPRING HAS SPRUNG

" _Contagion can be transmitted in many ways. Airborne transmittal is the worst of all. It spreads rapidly, and unseen."-_ US Centers for Disease Control _, Ebola epidemic_

# CHAPTER NINETEEN

Izzy reached out and touched the tops of the trees as she glided by. They had decided to fly low, because the snow clouds were building again, and visibility was non-existent up there. She loved touching the very tip of a pine tree. Contrary to what she had assumed, they were soft and the smell always reminded her of Christmas. Leaning to one side, she looked back at Tristan, who was flying just off her right flank. She smiled at her love, and he smiled back.

A sudden burning sensation ripped through Izzy's wing, and she careened downward. Tristan caught her just before she hit a tree. Something grazed his arm, spewing blood out across her body, as Tristan lost his grip and she fell. Luckily, he was already headed for the ground and she only fell about two stories before hitting the ground. Their bodies were more resilient since the change. Not only from the cold, but from any physical problem.

Trying to lift herself up, Izzy was stunned by the pain coming from her left wing. It seared into her soul, and she couldn't move her wing correctly. Rolling to the side, she just missed another arrow crashing into the tree beside her. She didn't know what was shooting, but she certainly knew the direction it came from. She crawled as fast as she could around the tree to the other side and listened.

"Izzy!" Tristan yelled out from above.

His muscular form was suddenly beside her, holding her closely. She gasped with the pain.

"Who shot me?" she asked him. He shook his head, indicating he didn't know.

Peering around the tree, Tristan stood. "Izzy, get out of here now."

He pulled his bat from its sheath between his wings and walked into the open. She peered around the corner and saw what she first assumed to be the priest from the Chapel Grounds. He had once been this, but he was no more. His face was a grayish pall, and his eyes a milky white which only happens to the blind, and the dead. He held a bow in his hand, but as he shot it, Tristan simply knocked the arrow away with his bat.

"We were coming to look for you soon," Tristan stated, "You saved us the time of finding you."

The thing that had once been Minister Jim let out a guttural cackle, that sounded almost tinny. "Are you sure about that, boy?"

"Oh," Tristan replied, "I am sure."

Tristan leapt high in the air and came down just as quickly. His bat shattered the bow in the thing's arms. But it did not recoil, instead it grabbed him by the jacket and punched him three times in the face. The last punch sent Tristan sprawling.

Tristan screamed and leapt in the air, twirling his bat around before finding the creature's shoulder and knocking it sideways. It turned without pause and grabbed Tristan's jacket again. The deathly smile which crossed its face scared the hell out of Izzy. It coughed out and a black smoke came out of its mouth right into Tristan's face. Then it threw a sputtering Tristan to the side and began to walk toward Izzy.

"Come out from behind that tree, girl," came the airy voice from its throat, "You are the one I was looking for."

Izzy hid behind the tree. As she turned her back to it, she saw her doom. Coming at her from all around in a circle were others that had the same look of death on them. Many of them were injured in a manner which should have left them incapacitated. Izzy was being set upon by the undead.

Her fear overtook her reason. She never assumed she would see something like this. She screamed in fright and pain, for the pain in her wing only got worse.

Suddenly Tristan was beside her, whirling his bat again, he attacked with everything he had to save her. One of the dead went down, then another. He was winning, and she needed to help him. She tried to raise up, but the pain in her wing was matched by one in her leg. She looked down and saw the arrow sticking out of her thigh. It had gone clean through.

"Now, now," the former Jim rasped, "no helping."

Izzy could not tell how he had another bow, as Tristan had destroyed the one before. Nor could she explain how the thing was speaking if it was undead. Her head hurt with the effort she was exerting. Something was wrong with these arrows.

Tristan was holding his own, but there were a dozen of them surrounding them. Smashing one's face with his bat, he turned to look at Izzy and reassure her. They say that an arrow piercing the flesh makes a red rose of blood as it exits. They are not wrong. The blood looked just like that when the arrow penetrated Tristan's shoulder. He looked down at it dumbfounded as the second one hit him in the stomach and felled him.

She heard the cackling laugh and the pain left her. All that remained was rage, and adrenaline. Ignoring the searing pain, she leapt up into the air and called her power to full force. Looking down at her hands, she saw the purple plasma of lightning surround her hands and she unleashed it on her enemies. The lightning spread from one to the next and burned them in place. It was not killing them, as they were already dead. But it caused their muscles to seize and become statuesque. She took the short sword she had found on one of their forages out and systematically decapitated every one of the things. She didn't know if this would help, but every zombie story she ever heard told her to go for the heads. She thought it was a dozen, but she only counted ten and Jim was nowhere in sight.

She could waste no time in a chase. She rushed to Tristan's side. She could move but she could not fly. He was trying to make words as blood spewed out of his mouth.

She held him closely. "It is okay, my love," she whispered, "I will get you out of here. I will save you."

But her words fell on deaf ears. She looked up to see Tristan was in bad shape. His eyes were no longer open, his lids barely apart, she began to cry the true wail of grief.

That is how her friends found her, her heavy tears dripping down on her injured love. She did not hear them come, nor even notice them for a while. She just knew that there was a fire to her right as Lance unleashed the fire from his palms on each of the corpses. She hoped the fire would envelope her and bring the pain in her chest to an end. Mara gently pulled her away, so Lance could help Tristan.

"Let's take them to the Bluffs," Lance said ordered, "Cliff said they had healers and they will accept our kind."

Perk came to her side and lifted her like a feather. Even if his power had not been great strength, Izzy would have been easy to carry. She was tiny and hugged him close for comfort. She looked back over her shoulder at the Gavin and Lance carrying her love. Mara led the formation.

Quietly, she whispered, "I will avenge this, my love."

Tristan couldn't hear this, of course, he was out cold. But she said it anyway, if only to herself, to assure the retribution which she would unleash once she found out who did this.

# CHAPTER TWENTY

Kelly moved from home to home. It was the same at Carson as it had been at Soaring Eagles. There was something about this virus that was different than others. He would not have been able to describe it, even if asked. But, he had better learn to describe it, because even though it wasn't particularly dangerous, his healing ability had no effect on the virus.

"Sir," a young warrior interrupted, wiping his runny nose with the back of his hand, "Commander Janos has asked you to approve the new walls."

Kelly nodded. It was difficult for him to be both the local healer and the local Governor. It was too much work for one person. When he wrote to the Bluffs, he fully planned to ask the Council for another healer. The worst part was that Kelly himself was showing the signs of contracting the illness. Every single person in both of his towns had come down with it.

It wasn't a particularly harsh illness. His nose ran a lot, as did his eyes. There was some swelling in his throat, but it wasn't too bad. The biggest problem was the loss of energy. Lethargy overtook his whole body and made it a little hard to concentrate. This, in turn, made it hard to utilize his abilities. Once again, it wasn't a huge problem, because it just made things difficult, not impossible.

Kelly rose and went to look around the new walls. They were certainly high enough, and guard towers were placed right where he and Janos had told the Terras to put them. As he rounded the corner of the new expansion, he saw Janos speaking with some of his men. The men saluted as Kelly drew close and he nodded in response.

"It all looks good," Kelly called out to Janos.

"Yeah," Janos replied, "I think this will give us enough room for some family expansion, as well as the new barracks."

"They have done fine work," Kelly responded.

"Any thoughts on this damn cold?" Janos queried, a small cough escaping his lungs.

Kelly shook his head, "It seems an innocuous form of the common cold. It does hit the energy level pretty hard, doesn't it?"

The commander just stared off to the side. Kelly had learned this meant he was thinking. It was a little anti-social, but the man was a solid commander and a great help. They had become friends in the short time they had known each other.

Janos stirred after a long pause, "It seems like everyone has it."

Kelly nodded, "It does seem that way. I haven't seen anyone who doesn't have it. The good news is that it is a fairly minor cold."

Janos agreed, "Let's just hope to God that it ends as quickly as it came upon us."

As Kelly left the meeting and headed toward his temporary housing, he considered the length of a normal cold. They were a few days into this rapidly spreading virus, a normal cold lasts no longer than two weeks. This could be over before he could even get a note off to the Bluffs. Was it really worth it to send notice?

# CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

"It is always jarring to pull yourself out of the eyes of the dead," Jack stated, to no one in particular.

He was growing lonelier by the minute, but he had to push that thought out of his mind. What he had learned in his exile made him more valuable than he could possibly explain. At this point, he may know more about how the powers work than even Jenny Martinez or Cliff Ko.

He shook his head to clear his mind. What he had seen was racing in his mind. There was a whole flock of angels out there. These were clearly creations of Annie Grace and would have fit well into his plans. He needed one of her creations, preferably an early one. It seemed unlikely he would get Cliff Ko, but that would meet two requirements for his research. The first was to study why his powers had no effect on those who had been transformed by Annie's ability. The second was to see what could be done with those whose genetic structure Jack had strengthened during his time at the Bluffs. What could be done with those he called Arch mystics. The best object of study, of course, would have been Calvin Ward. This man had been strengthened by no one that Jack had ever heard. Indeed, he believed himself to be the only person who knew how to strengthen the DNA. But, Calvin Ward had that strength naturally. That would be an interesting study.

His next best choice for this research would be Maxine Craven, since she had the power which taught him to control other beings. None of them knew the gift he had given them, because he had not yet triggered it when he left the Bluffs. He wasn't even sure if he could thwart his initial attempt at strengthening. As soon as they found out about him, his powers, and the work he had accomplished, the war would begin. He couldn't stop it now. This was a war he must win. It must end with their accepting him back into the fold, but they will only do that if he finishes in power. In order to win, he needed to diminish the powers of those he had strengthened. He had formed a plan to diminish the powers of everyone else, but the Arch mystics were still an unknown.

"Perhaps," he said into the air, "Pushing them through the formative years would work. The trigger would work for that."

Jack had set the mechanism in motion for the trigger but had not finalized its actual effect. He had a couple of different options. Since he would also be affected by the trigger, he must be careful.

Jack looked around. He was alone, as always. The risen stood around him, as they always did when he wasn't specifically using them. But they were devoid of soul, of life, of personality. It was times like these when Jack's loneliness hit him hardest. But, he didn't have time for such vanities at the moment. He needed subjects to research. The time was almost upon him to take a city. The risen army was growing. Jim had served his purpose, but now he too was gone. After the failed attempt to grab one of the angels (always a target of opportunity, since they had not been in his plans), Jim had been lost down a sinkhole on its way back to a safe location. The corpse was still available to Jack, but he couldn't get it out of the hole to use it. Jack doubted he could find another void mystic, but a healer might do.

He looked at the old map of Colorado Springs spread out before him. There were bloodstains on the upper right corner from where he had killed the man who had owned it. He had all of the townships which the council had set up marked. He also had Eric's domain, the Faith's lands, and the free holds of Monument. He had heard much about what had become of Woodland Park, but had never been there. Additionally, what he had learned of the Grand Master made it a poor choice to attack. If that became an important gain, Jack would send an army of great size against it to limit the damage. The extra corpses he would need, he now added to his calculations.

"Eeeny, meeny, miny, mo..." He said as he went between a few towns, finally settling on one that made sense.

A smile covered his face. The plan was beginning to cement in his mind. One goal, at least, would be reached soon.

# CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Perk landed as lightly as he could. Izzy had not moved since he had picked her up, except for the constant, soft sobbing which shook her body. He really didn't have time to deal with his own worries yet, both of his friends were in too bad shape. Rather, he pushed it out of his mind to deal with the matter at hand. Izzy had two arrows protruding from her body, one from her wing and one from her thigh. They had taken her to the only place they could think of. The others were following behind, Tristan in between them. He was in much worse shape, but Perk couldn't think about that right now.

As he touched down, he saw men and women with weapons drawn, running toward them. He laid Izzy down gently and pulled the bat from its sheath between his wings. Were they really going to attack? Maybe this was a mistake.

"Perkins, no," Lance called out from behind him, "Everyone disarm. Do it, Mara!"

Perk looked back. The others were landing and putting Tristan on his back before complying. Seeing everyone else lay their weapons down, he dropped his bat to the turf. Some Asian guy with a spear ran out first. Perk didn't recognize him at first, but then the age and facial hair registered.

"Kin?" he asked, "Kin Ko? We just saw your brother."

Kin looked at him, but said nothing, an obvious, simmering anger just beneath the man's expression. Others arrived as well, their weapons at guard. One look told Perk he could have taken them all, but the A group was nothing if not disciplined.

"Our friends are injured," Gavin pleaded, "Cliff said you have healers."

"You are friends of Cliff's?" asked a man in his twenties, who had no weapon.

Perk nodded. Nodding to Izzy, he said, "She has been shot. But back there," he pointed to Tristan, "he is in bad shape. We need help right away."

The man waved some people over to look at her and Tristan, then turning to the rest of the group, "My name is Jordan Kane. I don't know how to ask this...what are you?"

Mara huffed, but Lance answered, "We are a group who has formed as a family, and we have injured members of that family. We are trying to not lose one another."

One of the people hovering over Izzy looked up at Jordan, "She has lost a lot of blood. The male has serious injuries, his lung still has an arrow in it. We would do better at Hillside if they can take us there."

Gavin's voice was shaken, he was barely holding his anger and despair in, "They won't make another long journey."

The woman looked up at Gavin, condolences in her face, "We have stabilized them in ways we couldn't before the Event. I will go if you take us. Flying isn't far, only riding would be far."

"Perkins is the only person with... the only one of us who can carry a person solo while flying, and he can't carry both of them," Lance answered.

"I can," Perk replied, stopping the objection Lance was about to make, "I can, bud. It is fine. Izzy needs this and it will be faster if I don't have to explain myself."

"I will go too. I can take the Doc," Gavin offered.

"Don't," Perk answered, "someone needs to tell Artie and Gwen."

"I've got it," Mara nodded, then ran across the grass and took off into flight toward the perch, her wings flapping her higher and higher.

Izzy mumbled something and reached out toward Tristan's unmoving body, but the pain that tore through her body was clear to anyone who was watching. Perk turned toward the healer who had suggested the flight.

"Ma'am," he said, "We had better get going. Lance will stay and debrief your people. Hold on tight to Gavin. He is weak and needs the help," He winked at her and smiled at Gavin. _Joke a little. Keep everyone's spirits up,_ he told himself. He picked Tristan up in one arm and Izzy in the other and leapt straight into the air, his wings spreading wide.

Turning to see Gavin straining to carry another person with him would have normally made him laugh. Also, the healer's face was alight with a smile, which would normally make his heart glad. But, Perk could not feel any joy right now. He looked at the healer with a question in his brow. She pointed to the Hillside. Perk recognized it immediately, even from this distance. He had eaten there with his date to Junior Prom. With caution behind, he flew there in less than ten minutes.

Rather than warriors with weapons, they were greeted by a throng of healers in awe of what they were seeing. He let both of his friends down as gently as he could manage, and they carried the two off in different directions. He made to follow, but the healer stopped him.

"Let us take care of her," she said as Gavin put her down, and she ran into a building with the others.

Perk looked at his friend, who was panting from the effort of carrying the woman for ten minutes. Perk's superhuman strength made it no problem at all to carry someone, but the others had never been able to accomplish it.

He slapped Gavin on the shoulder, "I guess I am not the only pack mule now, huh?"

Perk trusted these people for no apparent reason. What choice did he have? His friends were everything to him. With the urgency behind him and the transportation no longer clouding his mind, the thought of losing one or both of them hit him. The pain hit his chest and he fell to his knees. The tears welled and fell heavily down his cheeks. He had known Tristan Stone since they were in Kindergarten. He was one of the finest people Perkins could ever hope to know. After the Event, when all of their families had rejected them, it had been Tristan who had rounded everyone up and worked to coalesce this group together. Artie was the leader, but Tristan was their heart. And now, he was on death's door.

Perk wasn't sure how long he had been kneeling and crying, but at some point, night had fallen. A thin woman, holding a young girl in her arms walked toward him. She had a sad smile on her face. Perk steeled himself for even more bad news.

"Hi, I am Erica," She said. "I am so sorry for your experience. Amanda told us about your friends and what happened."

Perk didn't say anything in regard to Tristan, it was too hard, he just queried, "Izzy...Isabel, is she...?"

Erica smiled, "She is fine. She is recuperating and we put her in a deep sleep. She will need a small rehab on the wing, to make sure it works well. But, she should be fine to leave in the morning. Tristan Stone, on the other hand, will need more work. Do you have any idea what he breathed in during your fight? We have stabilized him, but something is fighting us every step of the way. The healers describe it as dead bacteria, if that makes any sense."

Perk looked up at Erica, watching her wipe her runny nose with a small cloth. Had she been crying too? Gavin was lost in his own thoughts and wasn't involved int heir conversation.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

She nodded, "Oh, this is just a silly cold which won't go away."

"Where can I wait?" he looked around for a good perch spot.

"Anywhere," she said, "But we will keep them safe. Don't worry. If you need to get back to your friends, she will be able to fly tomorrow, and we will have an update on Tristan at that time."

The woman's understanding was uncanny. He wondered if this is what was meant by bed side manner. He looked to Gavin, who nodded his agreement.

"We will get back to our friends," he replied. "Just so they don't worry."

Erica nodded, "We feed everyone after daybreak. My husband, Adam, is in charge here. He will look in on her after morning meal, and I am sure he will release her then."

"Very well," Perk stated softly, "I will see you then."

Without further comment, he leapt into the night sky and flew back to the Bluffs. Gavin took up the position of his wingman. Neither said a word.

As he arrived at the walled fortress, as that is what it now was, he saw a flurry of Harpies and faeries flying out into the night with messages in their hands. As they left, he saw Mara, Gwen, and Artie land on the same patch he had stood on earlier.

Landing next to them, he updated their leader, "Izzy and Tristan are at the old Hillside restaurant. It is their healing college. They tell me she will be fine in the morning, but needs rest tonight. Tristan is in bad shape. They are fighting some unknown infection."

Artie's eyes were red and glistening, as he walked up and wrapped his old friend in a huge hug. They both cried.

"You know what Tristan would say right now?" Gavin asked.

"That we are a bunch of pussies?" Artie answered and they all laughed. It did not take the hurt away. In some ways, it made it sharper.

Within a few moments, the remaining members showed up with a man in tow. It was the Council Leader, Kyle Ward, who offered his condolences.

"Is your sis here?" Gwen asked of Kyle.

Perk had completely forgotten about Nat. She was the only member of the A group who had not been with them on the day of the Event. Izzy had sort of replaced her within their group, but it had been forever since he had even thought about her.

"She is in charge of Mountain Shadows," Kyle answered, "And she trains all of our warriors?"

"Wait," Gavin said, "The princess is a badass?"

Kyle looked at him, light humor coloring the corners of his eyes. "I wouldn't call her princess when you see her. She isn't the same person."

"Who is?" Perk asked. "I need some time."

Artie nodded, and Perk flew high up the cliff near the Bluffs. Finding an outcropping, he squatted there and let the sadness and anger wash over him. He would remain there until the sun broke the horizon, then he would go get Izzy and visit his oldest pal. Someone needed to be there for them both, and he would do his best to be whatever they needed.

# CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

"If you will wait until morning," Janos said sternly, as he followed Kelly toward the gate, "I can send a whole contingent with you."

"Commander," Kelly answered, turning to face his friend, "I appreciate your concern. But, the Harpy brought a request for me to return to the council immediately on a matter of great concern. Kyle Ward is not someone who would request this lightly. If I leave now, I can be there shortly after dark tomorrow."

"Kelly," Janos continued, "There are reports..."

"My friend," Kelly replied, "we can't be frightened by every report of the boogie man in the night. We need help with this sickness. A call for the full council means that Adam and Erica will be there. I need as much time as I can before my return. Have we heard anything from Soaring Eagles?"

Janos shook his head, "No, sir. We sent the message by bicycle, but none have returned. Perhaps if you wait until morning, you can report on the status at Soaring Eagles as well."

Kelly smiled, "You are the most pig-headed man I have ever met."

"So I have heard," the older man conceded.

"Everything will be fine," Kelly replied, "I will return as soon as I can and perhaps we will have an answer."

As Kelly loaded up the pack on to his shoulders, Janos motioned to the two soldiers with him.

"This man is your sole responsibility," he began, "Keep him safe, even from himself."

"Yes sir!" they both responded in unison.

Janos watched as his friend smiled and left through the front gates. Waiting until Kelly and his two guards had disappeared into the dark before motioning for the gate to be closed, he said a silent prayer for the safety of those men. He wasn't entirely certain what filled him with such dread about this trip, but there was a foreboding which gripped him.

He turned and walked back to the barracks, a thin shiver never far from his spine. The roads should be clear, but there was definitely a late winter snow brewing over the Peak. Snow kept people inside. Maybe the trip would be uneventful.

# CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Sitting in the rubble of the old resort, which had once been Eric Fine's compound, Jack centered himself. No one came near this place, there was a well-placed rumor that it was haunted. He knew that because he was the one who had placed that rumor. Indeed, by some reasoning, now it was. His risen were conveniently placed to keep him safe and informed of any intrusion. The dead certainly haunted this compound. Tonight's work would be different than other nights. Tonight, he would capture a prize or two.

As he had so many times before, Jack reached out with his mind over the vastness of the open world, and connected with the risen he had carefully set up in the forest. Avoiding notice of sentry animals was a trick Jack was getting good at, and he switched one after the other of the dozen risen warriors in place. Eventually, he saw what he was looking for.

Crouched against a tree, its fur covering lightly dusted with snow, was a werewolf. It was so still that Jack initially assumed it was sleeping. But, as soon as Jack raised the arm of one of the risen, like a puppet-master pulling a string, the man-wolf sprang into action.

It ran directly to the corpse and ripped it up from the ground. The risen warrior's knife went flying as the beast attacked. Knowing numbers were his best choice, Jack reached out and raised all of the others. He saw the fear on the Were's features. It had noted the one it tore up, maybe even one more, but it had no idea there were this many. Jack had begun to enjoy the feeling of power he felt when his prey realized things were not as safe as they had assumed.

He set the risen loose on the Werewolf, a cut here, a slash there. He wanted it dead, but still able to be manipulated. A torn mass of flesh would do him no good. This made his strikes very purposeful, and it was not going down without a fight. It ripped and clawed, bit and tore, defending and attacking. The tide was turning in the Werewolf's favor until he was able to slip a blade under its soft side-flesh, between two ribs and into its heart. The beast crumbled to the ground, never even breathing that last breath.

This had been part of the plan, unlike the foolish and impulsive attempt to take the angels. He really didn't need the other risen now. Indeed, they would only get in the way. Now, he would send this beast back in to take Maxine Craven. He would prefer her alive, but he needed her regardless. This would ensure that he could control the pack. Once he had his risen and the pack, he could bring her back to research and experiment before making his move on Manitou and, eventually, the Bluffs.

The adrenaline of the fight finally settling, he reached out with his mind and laid the risen's hand on the Werewolf's head. His power penetrating the beast's newly deceased brain was becoming so common that he almost did it second nature. As his reach interacted with the point of the brain where power resided, where he could raise the dead and control their power, he was suddenly brought back into his physical surroundings.

As he opened his eyes with a start, he saw her standing there. This teen girl with long, blonde hair silently looking around his camp. Maxine Craven had somehow come into his presence with stealth. He had not been warned by the risen. How had she slipped by the watch?

"How?" he asked of her, as she looked around the clearing in which he sat. "How did you get here?"

Her head snapped around and her gaze held him. It was disconcerting. "Why, Jack? Why kill one of my pack? Why would you kill someone I love?"

"How do you know about that?" Jack asked, fear settling in. She was somehow omniscient. She knew everything, where he was, what he was, what he had done. How was this possible?

"What have you done?" she queried, her expression unfathomable, "What are you doing, Jack?"

He blinked and she moved in a flash. Where had she learned this skill?

"So it is you?" She asked quietly, "You are the cause of the undead who walk the old city? You have done a bad thing, Jack. You should not have come after mine. That was a mistake."

It finally struck Jack. He wasn't seeing her, he was seeing her image in his mind. She was projecting herself through his connection. He needed to remove himself. He pushed his thoughts into the Werewolf's brain and tried to block her. It was to no avail. He tried to remove the risen's hand from the beast, but that didn't work either. He was no longer in charge. The Alpha had taken control.

"Where are you going, Jack?" Max asked, a small smile curling around her lips. It was perhaps the most devilish look he had ever seen, "Having problems?"

She was in his mind. How much was she reading of his thoughts, of his plans? There was only one way to end this. Jack knew it. It would cost him all of the remaining risen in that forest, but it may save his sanity. With every bit of effort remaining to him, he forcefully severed his connection to all of the risen near her. Her image before him shimmered and blinked out, but not before one last message came through.

"I am coming for you, Jack," the image of Maxine Craven said, "You will pay for what you have done..."

She was gone. Jack was alone. He looked around, and reached into each risen corpse in the compound. It was all clear. She had never been there. She had been in his head the whole time.

# CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Emmanuel Cortez had been a busboy at the Pep's restaurant in Monument before the Event. As was true with many immigrants to Old America, his former life as a professional in El Salvador had been lost on the long train ride to make a better life for his family. Within that first year, he had to give up any hope of ever seeing them again and had taken to leading this small family of strangers in the Jackson Creek Freehold.

It had actually been Emmanuel who had first called them the Free Holds of Monument when marauders from Denver had arrived to demand a tax. The people of Monument loved the name and made him one of their leaders. In the past couple of years, they had increased their hold to include farming and husbandry, and the trade was good. The current winter flu was ravaging the holds and, from what he had heard, was ravaging the whole of Denver also. But other than some lethargy, the free people were none the worse for wear.

The free holds had decided not to join the groups from the south, neither the Bluffs nor the Faith. In the opinion of most, the Faith were too anti-power, and the Bluffs were too free with it. Moderation was the key. Everything in moderation.

Emmanuel readied himself for the trek to the morning market. He had an ability most would have loved to acquire. He could run at a full sprint, and never grow tired. He could also leap high into the air, and always land on his feet. It probably wouldn't be that useful in the old world. But, in this one, his ability served great purpose. He could get between the holds with no problems.

"My love," Melissa said softly, as she yawned, "Will you be home by dark?"

"Of course," he replied, gently kissing her, "Your arms await."

He grabbed the pack of dried meats from the side of the door as he departed. It was still well before sunrise, but the best sales always came at the earliest hours. Settling into a straight-out sprint, he flew across the land, leaping high over every obstacle. With any luck, he would return even earlier, maybe in time for supper.

# CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Jack was incensed. His plans would now have to change. The order of things would have to change. The war would begin far ahead of schedule, and that meant dealing with his most pressing security concerns. He was nothing, if not adaptable, though. He thought through every choice and deduced the path with the greatest chance of success. No one would stand in his way, of this he was certain. He would need a different arch mystic. Max Craven was far too powerful. He did not know what effect the trigger would have on the arch mystics, nor on the demi-humans. But he knew the trigger would change everything and put him in power. He couldn't wait to pull that trigger.

"Maxine Craven," he said to the emptiness around him, "You have moved to number one on my list."

# CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Perk had not slept well. His perch had been fine, but the near loss of his dearest friend was too much to bear. As the corona of the sun crested the horizon, he caught the movement out of the corner of his eye.

Other than when he had dropped on the ground when they had shown at his lair, Perk had never seen Cliff fly. Seeing a dragon high in the air was both frightening and exhilarating. Perk leapt out from the cliff face and noticed he was not the only one. Lance and Artie were flapping their way up to where Cliff was.

"Cliff, my friend," Artie called out, "Did you get the call?"

Cliff's giant head shook from side to side, the collar around his neck replied, "I didn't get a call, but I have some ideas."

His giant body not as light on the air as the A group's were, he nosedived toward the landing at the Bluffs. The guards were already standing around, their weapons at their sides. They knew Cliff was no threat.

As the great serpent landed heavily on the landing, Perk and friends landed beside him. Kyle was already up and about, and was now walking toward Cliff, a large smile spreading across his mouth.

"Cliff!" he exclaimed, "I am so happy to see you! We did not send you notice, but your ears must have been burning. We were going to send a harpy to you this morning in the hopes you would join us. You saved us the time and effort."

Cliff bowed his giant head, "Hey, Kyle! I have some things I need to tell you..."

"Holy shit!' Kyle exclaimed. "You got the talking stone to work? That is amazing!"

Cliff grinned his menacing grin. Perk wondered if Cliff even knew how terrifying he looked. "It is," Cliff agreed, "but, that isn't why I am here. There are some things that..."

"Can it wait, bud?" Kyle requested, "Pretty much everyone is on their way and you won't have to repeat yourself."

Nodding his reptilian noggin, Cliff stomped a giant turn and faced his brother, who was on guard duty and stood behind him.

"You gonna try to spear me again?" Cliff asked.

"I didn't know it was you," Kin huffed. "I made a mistake and you went away for a year. How could you do that? How could you change into this? You are all I have, and you abandoned me."

The silence from the dragon was staggering. Perk really wanted to see his face, and see if he could glean some emotional response from Cliff. But, movement would have been too obvious, too intrusive.

Out of the jewel at his throat, Cliff finally answered, "I was mad. I am sorry, but you attacked me. As for my form, this is what I wanted, Kin. Can't you see that?"

"You wanted to be the size of a bus?"

"Yes!" Cliff roared, "It is awesome! I can fly. I am hard to hurt. People can't pick on me, but I still get to research things. I love being a dragon!"

Kin shook his head, but Cliff's enthusiasm was difficult to ignore. A smile touched the corner of his mouth. "You are such a nerd."

"I know," Cliff replied, "Isn't it the best?"

The giant reptile's mouth contorted, and his head fell back in what could only have been a laugh. Kin responded in kind.

"Can I still give you a hug?" Kin asked.

"Sure," Cliff answered, "Can I give you a ride? It is so much fun!"

Kin dropped his spear and ran up to his brother, wrapping his arms around the dragon's neck and telling him he loved him. It was a sweet reunion, both beautiful and difficult for someone who just saw a guy who was like a brother to him put in perilous harm. He turned to Artie.

"I have to go get Izzy," he said.

Artie nodded, "I will go with you."

Lance stayed behind, as Perk and Artie rose into the air soaring their way toward the Hillside.

"Are you doing alright?" Artie asked, once they were high enough in the air to not be heard.

"It is tough, man," Perk answered.

"How are they?" His leader asked, pointing toward the Hillside.

"No idea," he responded. "She was not responding to words when I left her. They said she would be fine. Tristan is another story. You will see."

Artie just nodded, and they flew the rest of the way in silence.

# CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

The small woman with wings was nothing he had not seen before. In the last year, these demi-humans had been popping up across the landscape. All intelligence told him they were scarce. But, they were so different and new that one seemed to constantly see them. This particular one had a message from Kyle Ward though, and it was not one Eric wanted to hear. Some of the demi-humans had been attacked and this made it a real threat, one which the Bluffs had taken seriously. Not only had Jack been discovered, but he had progressed his abilities to the point of attacking others. This needed to be nipped in the bud.

Thanking the faerie and sending her on her way back to the Bluffs, Eric considered his options. He had not been blind to Collins' ambitions, but had somehow missed his power. How long had it gone on? It didn't matter. It all started to make sense now. He spit out a short cough, before getting it under control. This cold was pervasive, but minor. It was enough to drive just about anyone mad.

"Grab my weapons," he called out to his assistant, "I am going on a hunt."

The man nodded, left, and returned shortly with Eric's sword and the knife which Grandmaster Pike had made for him. He thought of the numerous ways in which he was going to mutilate Jack Collins before he allowed him to die. A message would need to be sent, but not one as open as he had once wanted to send. The people at the Bluffs would hunt for answers and those answers would lead to Jack Collins. This would impair Eric's already dicey relationship with his more powerful neighbors to the north. He would have to solve this himself. They might hunt Jack down, but they would only find a bloody corpse. This was now Eric's task, and he would relish it. The problem was that he no longer relished the killing as he had in the early days. He much preferred fishing.

There was one thing of which he was certain. Bluffs' Leader, Kyle Ward, nor any of his people could never find out that he housed and supported Jack. There was only one way to take care of that.

His assistant put together some other light things into a pack for him. "Sire," he mumbled, "it sounds like they need you at the Bluffs."

"This won't take long," Eric replied.

After a short period of time, he was ready to go. Rather than bringing a contingent with him, he chose stealth. Eric moved quietly through the brush. A group of men would only have tramped around, making Collins perfectly aware of his arrival. As it was, he was able to move with speed, under the cover of darkness.

He arrived at the old compound in the earliest dawn, noting the burnt buildings and what had passed years before as the walls of his encampment. Those days were long gone, but Eric thought on them fondly and a little sadly. He had made mistakes in those early days after the Event, but he had enjoyed a control which he would never again experience. Had the control been that important? It didn't seem like it now. For his entire career in the Army, he had wanted absolute power. However, when it came, it was more responsibility and less creative than he had desired. It was also inherently lonely. He looked around in the quiet before the sun broke the sky. His men still thought the more peaceful Eric was an attempt to keep up the façade of the reformed Eric Fine for those with whom he had made agreements. But, deep inside, Eric knew he was changing.

The time to take care of this recent breach of protocol was at hand, and these thoughts would have to wait for some other time. Peering around a corner, he almost ran into the back of a corpse, clearly set up as a guard. Eric unsheathed his dagger and pierced the head of the thing, just below the Occipital bone in the skull. He could not be sure how Jack controlled the corpses but removing the brain stem couldn't hurt.

Keeping his eyes peeled for corpses buried, partially buried or standing upright, Eric snuck around the ruins of former mansions and made his way toward the old resort center. Collins had fewer guards than Eric would have in the same situation. The lack of training in the young man was showing.

As he entered the center compound, in a clearing by the small lake in the old resort, Eric saw him. In the hollowed shell of one of the buildings, Jack Collins was working on something. He decided on a change. There was no reason to prolong this, no reason to torture the young man, Eric would make this quick. There was no interrogation required, he already had all the information he needed. This young man had lied to him, and betrayed him, and become a liability. No one lived who did either of those things. So, why was he questioning even this small kill?

This close to his goal, Eric dropped caution. He wasn't afraid of Jack's guards anyway. He walked calmly toward the man's back.

"Good morning, my lord," the sarcasm and derision dripping from Jack's tongue were not unexpected. Eric wasn't even that surprised that Jack knew he was there. It was the fact that he wasn't concerned enough to turn around which raised the hair on the back of Eric's neck.

He began to move forward when the first arrow pinned his foot to the ground. A second hit him in the shoulder and he gasped in pain. He had not felt the incoming danger, nor reacted with the speed with which his powers usually granted him the ability. Something was very wrong here.

"It wasn't that I didn't see you coming, Eric," Jack said, finally turning to face him. "It was that I had planned that you would come the whole time."

Eric had heard enough. Summoning all of his power, he reached into the air to pull Jack toward him for a killing blow. An arrow pierced the palm of his hand and his reach gained nothing. Eric fell to one knee, holding his arm with his other hand. A scream escaped his otherwise composed lips.

Jack laughed, "Oh, right, your power," he mocked, "I took that away some time ago. You were just too blind to see it. I mean, hell, what difference did it make? One who does not exercise his power does not have it anyway."

Eric was shocked. He ignored the pain and reached into his own core to draw on his abilities. There was nothing. His power was indeed gone, but it didn't feel like it had when the Lord's Hammer had drained him during battle. He knew his only chance was to keep the man talking.

"How?" he queried.

"Minister Jim's power. You know, the Lord's Hammer you let live at the end of the battle in the East. He still had the ability within him to drain others. It was smaller than the four of them together, but it was enough. I accessed that power and put it to use when you had no idea what was happening. But, I have a secret," Jack toyed with him, "I am not who you think I am. None of you actually ever knew what my real power was. Not you, not the Wards, or the Cravens. No one. Everyone thought it was healing, and I guess it is, of a sort. I can manipulate genetic structure, just like Annie Grace could. I actually learned it from her, you senseless idiot. My ability is a little different, but so much better than hers. So, Minister Jim came to Manitou for help, but you were fishing. Fishing?!? You fool! Wasting your days waist-deep in a stream while the world changed around you. I question why those at the Bluffs ever feared your might."

Eric's head swam with confusion. Had he really walked directly into a trap? Of course, he had. But, he had options. He could still survive this.

"The Fisher King, what a joke!" Jack spat at him. "Jim had a cold, and it gave me an idea. I modified his DNA, and that of the virus in his system, and sent him out. What I found was that the virus was malignant and had already spread through the entire population. Everyone has the virus now. It spread much faster than I would have thought possible. No one even noticed because they already had this other cold. For all I know, it has spread across the world. You were the test. When I used the trigger on you, I felt your power drain. I knew you were no more of a threat."

That was it. Eric realized the man's weakness. It was that he put too much emphasis on the mystical powers and forgot about physical strength. Eric raised up, "You think my power is the only threat to you?"

Arrows simultaneously struck him in the thigh, bicep, forearm and his other foot and Eric fell to the ground. Jack walked over and stood above him.

"At the moment?" he asked, "Yes. Yes, I do."

Eric's consciousness began to fade as he lost blood and the pain settled into his mind. "I can still help," he muttered through the fog in his brain.

"What was that?" Jack held his hand up.

Eric felt his health stabilize, but just enough to keep him awake and talking. He had to be very careful. "I know what you want, Jack," he mumbled, "I can help with that."

Jack got close to his old Lord's face, "What do you know about me, old man? Feeble man. Weak man!"

Eric was fading again, he whispered, "They will let you come back."

Jack stopped, turning his back on Eric once more, but he had got through. He felt his health stabilize even more.

"How can he be a hostage and still be my vengeance?" one of the dead croaked.

Jack responded, as though he didn't even know his thoughts were being broadcast through this corpse. "What do you mean?" he said to Eric.

"Bring me to the Bluffs and turn me in," Eric answered, "You will be a hero, the man who caught Lord Marshall Eric Fine! Then you can return to your people, and I will be dealt with."

"And what is in it for you?" Jack asked.

"I am not a fool, Jack, no matter what you might think. I know I won't make it out of here alive. You won. I am at your mercy. The people at the Bluffs will let me live in either exile or confinement. They will likely let you choose."

Eric felt his consciousness fading. He was willing to give up the ghost, if this was his time. But, something on Collins' face told him this was not the end. He closed his eyes to wait for the outcome, whether death or life. Jack apparently thought he had passed out.

"There is one more thing I want to tell you, in your addled state," Jack said, low and forboding, "You are now the trigger. You will be the vehicle of my vengeance, or the vehicle of my salvation. You will unleash my wrath on those who rejected me or get them to accept me. In either case, I win, Eric. It is fitting, don't you think?"

Jack walked away from him and Eric listened to him go. He knew that the corpses were watching and allowed himself to sleep. One way or another, he was headed to the Bluffs. He hoped he would be able to warn them, but it was now out of his hands. He simply let the wave of pain and exhaustion take away his conscious thought. His last thought before passing out was about hubris. He had walked into a trap laid by a man who was not his intellectual or experiential equal. He had done it because he trusted himself too much and had no friends on whom he could lean. If he made it through this, Eric decided at that moment, he would make a much bigger change.

# CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Jenny ran through the neighborhood. There was no telling when another of those things would show up. Peri had found her just as she was returning to her township, and given her the note to return to the Council. Knowing that she needed to share the strange message Calvin Ward had told her, and sensing some urgency in Kyle's call, she left immediately. She had not brought a guard. She felt she should have told Nat about her father's words when she had visited Mountain Shadows, but other things kept getting in the way. Also, she didn't understand the message. Now she did. Those walking corpses were everywhere, and the best way to keep them from ever rising was to burn the dead. This had been the words of the Hermit and she knew to take them seriously.

That wasn't the worst of it. This damn cold was draining her energy. Her legs felt like lead and her arms hung listlessly to her sides, but her adrenaline kept her going. She slipped between two abandoned houses and peered around the corner. Reaching out with her mind to see if the things even had auras was a chore because the cold interfered with her focus, and focus was everything when it came to the powers. She centered herself and looked around. All was well until she saw a flash of color behind a nearby house. It was a violet stream of power.

Having some sense of what to look for now, she searched the area around her and found a gap in which the undead were not seeking her out. It was directly behind her, so she headed out that way, creeping around the houses and staying out of sight as much as possible. As she found her way into some nearby bushes, the undead all stopped in their tracks for just a moment. At the same time, a stream of violet aura leapt from the head of one of them and flew high in the air.

Jenny watched it like she used to watch the trails on jets as they flew over. It flew high above the bushes near her and landed in a ditch there. Almost like a string pulling up a puppet, the violet string lifted a lifeless corpse which had already been in the ditch. This was their connection. Jenny was fascinated but didn't really have time to analyze it. She was surrounded.

"Jenny Martinez," came the raspy voices of all of the undead at once. How did they know her name? "Come out, Jenny. You will be safe with us."

Seeing an opening, she ran. The things were not slow. Some of them moved as one would expect, but that seemed to have to do with decay of the leg muscles. The "fresher" ones had uncommon stamina and could sprint right out. Those which could sprint had chased her here.

Jenny sprinted down an alley and realized she had been corralled into this very spot. There was no exit. There was no outlet. It ran into a wall which was too high to jump and the undead were closing in on her. There had to be fifteen of them coming at her down this alley. She would never make it out alive. A silent tear fell down her cheek as she prepared for her doom.

A Flash of red at the rear of the group of undead startled her. The ones coming at her seemed to notice something as well, they all began to turn. But, they were too slow for Natalee Ward. Nat, and two of her warriors, were coming towards Jenny. Their swords and axes swinging freely, they were destroying the undead methodically.

The last one had almost reached Jenny when a chain wrapped around its neck and Nat pulled it off its feet and to the ground. The young woman was pulsing a rage which Jenny had not seen in quite some time. Natalee leaned over the thing, looking right in its face.

"I am coming for you, old friend," she said quietly, and drove her sword through its eyes. The word friend had dripped with a hatred Jenny had never seen Nat exhibit. There was definitely more than met the eye here. Nat gave Jenny a hand, helping her to her feet.

"Burn them," Jenny pleaded.

"What?" Nat queried.

"Burn them," she repeated, "It is what your father said. Burn them all."

"You saw my father?" Nat asked.

"Yes. Please, Nat, burn them all."

Natalee looked to her men and gave a quick, curt nod. One of them reached his hand out and a cone of flame shot forth, encasing the body before them in flame. Jenny watched with her inner sense and saw it was not the man's power. This flame was produced from a wristband the man was wearing.

"Those are handy," she said to Nat.

"The warriors?" the younger woman asked.

"No," Jenny responded, "The wristbands. We may need more of those. I will work with Cliff..."

"Jenny," Nat stopped her, "You saw my dad? Where?"

"The west side. He seemed to be in a hurry."

"Why didn't he come to see me?" Nat asked, once again looking at the young woman, yearning for her father's company.

Jenny just shook her head, "I don't know. I saw him for only a moment. All he said to me was, 'Burn your dead.'"

# CHAPTER THIRTY

"You are certain it was him?" Kyle asked his large green friend.

"Absolutely," answered the gem at Cliff's neck. "I saw Jack walking with a group of Eric's men. He was leading them. Eric was also riding next to him. He didn't look well."

Kyle turned toward Phineas, "And we are also certain that Jack is responsible for the undead?"

Nat spat. Kyle looked at her and nodded. Who else? Jack had raised their own mother. No one else had ever shown such ability. He turned to the faerie who had been dispatched to Manitou.

"Eric didn't seem surprised?" he asked.

Her tiny voice answered a squeak, "No, sir. He seemed to be figuring something out. You know the expression that one can see the wheels turning? It was like that."

The faeries had a strange way of communicating. All of the demi-humans did. It was something about the specific animals with which they were combined.

"I will go to Manitou," Kyle said, "This has to be assessed quickly."

"No," Nat replied, "I will go. You are no match if Eric takes you hostage."

"It has to be me," Kyle responded, "Eric needs to deal with someone who he regards as an equal position. Cliff, will you take me, and protect me so my sister doesn't have a conniption?"

The giant green serpent nodded up and down.

"I need to go too," said a woman's voice from the rear.

Kyle looked to the back and saw that Isabel Sanchez had joined them, her wings folded behind her. She, and the other angels, stood near the back mostly listening.

"I understand your need," he answered, "But this is complicated. We have a difficult history with Fine. I am not your leader, but I am asking you to allow me to deal with this."

Artie stepped forward, "You are not our leader, it is true. We will trust you to bring us this man, Jack Collins. He is ours to deal with."

Kyle wasn't sure how to deal with these people's anger. Luckily, they were old friends of his sister's.

"We understand better than most," Nat said to the angel, "He did something to our mother he still needs to answer for. Guys, you are not the only ones he has hurt."

Izzy looked at Nat with a mixture of sadness and anger, "We need to know what is going on with Tristan. He isn't getting better! All they can do is stabilize him. You can't kill him."

Artie looked at Nat and nodded. It had been mere hours since Nat had arrived, with Jenny in tow. She told a tale of Jenny being chased by multiple undead. Jenny related a story of seeing his father. Then Kyle had watched a part of his sister come back, which he had not seen since the days shortly after the Event. When she had seen her old friends, she had reverted for just a moment, to the prom queen she had been in the old world. She was once again the popular girl in her group of friends. She did not even take much notice of their wings. It just wasn't that big of a deal these days.

To be honest, Nat had been a snot during those days. But, returning to her old form had taken some of the weight off his sister's shoulders. He loved seeing her relax, even if it had been for only a moment. The angels knew her, and trusted her. Hell, if it had not been for a whim of their mother's, Nat would have been on that outing to the top of Pikes Peak the day of the Event. His sister would have wings.

Wiping the smile that brought to his lips away, Kyle stated, "I will leave first thing in the morning, just me and Cliff. Eric can't feel threatened. We don't want another war until we are sure." Seeing the look of disapproval from all of the angels, he added, "Though I can't imagine this not causing war."

Everyone nodded, and Kyle walked back to see Britt and Cooper. He needed a moment of normalcy before this started. They had not yet had the chance to marry but moving Cooper from his grandmother's abode to their own had given a sense of the stability of family. He loved that little boy, and would protect him and provide for him, until his last day.

As he turned a corner, he came face to face with his uncle. Ted had kept out of the deliberations, choosing to respect and support Kyle's leadership. But, here off to the side where no one could see them, Kyle could tell his uncle wanted to say something else. He walked toward his uncle's home.

"You can't go alone," Ted stated emphatically. "You don't know Eric Fine."

"Uncle Ted," Kyle began, "It is just a negotiation."

"Let me go with you," the request shocked Kyle. His uncle had taken no interest in the government nor events of the day since he had relinquished control. But as he considered it, Ted's request made more and more sense.

Ted opened his mouth to argue his case, but Kyle cut him off, "Okay. You, me, and Cliff then."

Ted smiled and pulled his nephew in for a hug. "How is that boy of yours anyway?"

"I am on my way to see that right now," Kyle replied.

After saying his goodbyes and planning for the morning, Kyle quickly made his way home to see his family. He checked on Cooper, who was curled up in bed in the little room they had made for him.

"He called me Daddy today," Britt said from behind him. Kyle turned to see his love's face glistening with tears. "It made me so happy, babe."

Hugging Britt close, Kyle felt his heart warm with the feeling of family which was suddenly available to him. He had lost his mother to an accident and Jack Collins' evil. He had lost his father to amnesia, and a seemingly new personality. But now, he was seeing the next generation of his family. Things could be bad, but life goes on.

# CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

This was Kyle's first time flying on Cliff's back, and he could easily understand the appeal. Soaring through the clouds was cold in the early spring, but it was exhilarating to feel the wind rush on his face. The raw power of Cliff's beating wings imbued Kyle with a certain confidence which could not be shaken. It is an amazing advantage to come into a negotiation riding on a dragon.

It did not take long to fly from the Bluffs to Manitou. Walking, or even riding there would have taken a while, flying took fifteen minutes. It was not far, as the dragon flies. They began their descent almost as soon as they finished their ascent. As they drew closer, Ted pointed out the guards on the gates.

"At least they don't seem to be alerted and concerned about our presence," he said.

Kyle would have gone a step further, instead noting they were listless and not doing much to protect the town. This did not fit in with his view of Eric Fine, but it was not his problem. He nodded to Ted and patted Cliff on the side of the neck.

"Let's make an entrance, bud," he said into Cliff ear, and the dragon huffed his assent.

Cliff let out a loud screech, as he circled down and dropped into the middle of town, right in front of Eric's headquarters. The Fisher King himself was unmoved. He stood at the base of the steps to his building, his hands at his sides and his eyes closed in quiet contemplation.

"Sorry for the sudden arrival," Kyle offered, "I need to speak with you about something."

"I am sure you do," came the raspy voice out of Eric's nearest companion, something was clearly different.

The Manitou leader opened his eyes, and Kyle saw the shame and pain behind them, devoid of the hubris that normally rested there. A cold smile broke across the man's dead face next to his Dad's former commander.

"Jack," Kyle exhaled, "What have you done?"

Looking back to the gates, Kyle could now see that all of the guards were propped up. There were no living people in Manitou, and that meant there were an abundance of puppets for Jack's plan. Kyle had walked directly into a trap.

"What is this?" he said, spinning to face the walking corpse before him. Eric still stood motionless.

"This is the future, council leader," Jack conveyed through dead lips. "You wanted to talk? Talk."

Kyle thought for a moment. Right now, he needed his dad's stunning ability to adapt quickly, to think on his feet.

"As I am sure you know," he began, "I came here to talk to Eric about you."

"It did seem likely," Jack replied condescendingly.

Kyle carried on, hoping his Uncle was prepared for what he was sure was about to be an attack, "I will tell you instead, since he isn't in command."

Eric looked to the ground, defeated. This man, who had been the epitome of pride and arrogance since the Event, was captured and acquiescent. Kyle had no idea what was keeping the Fisher King in place, only that something was draining him.

The human puppet just stood there as well, the same dead grin across his face. Maybe this could still go Kyle's way, if he played it right.

"Jack Collins is a menace," Kyle said, hoping to jar the other man's concentration. "He is raising the dead."

"You don't say," Jack replied, "Tell me more, oh wise one."

"We know what you are doing, Jack."

"Do you?" Jack asked, "Did you see this part coming?"

As he said it, Ted gasped and fell to his knees. Kyle and Cliff both looked to him.

Jack's voice continued, "That is what I call the trigger. What you can't see is that it is happening everywhere. That little nagging cold which everyone can't get over? That was me. My virus, my plague if you will, has drained almost every person of their abilities. Without abilities, you can't fight me, Kyle. Everyone who does not bend the knee, dies. Of course, after they die, they will bend the knee anyway. You see, I was going to send Eric to the Bluffs to make my demands on the crippled community. But, now I have you to send."

The corpse next to Eric made a lightning fast move to attack Kyle. He would have been dead in seconds had it not been for Cliff. Before it moved two paces, a jet of fire came out of Cliff's mouth, arcing over Kyle's shoulder and lighting the man's body on fire. Kyle saw the other undead coming. There were dozens of them coming out of every building. Thinking quickly, Kyle grabbed Eric and Ted, doing his best to put them both on to Cliff's back.

A guard across the street called out in the raspy voice, "Well played. So, I can't take the powers of the demi-humans like Cliff Ko, nor of an arch mystic like yourself, but everyone else is devoid of power. That virus spread everywhere. Across the world, people of every walk of life just fell like your uncle. You can't protect them Kyle, you can only watch them die or watch them kneel. This can end with us."

Kyle turned to see Ted weakly pulling himself into the saddle on Cliff's back, and strapping Eric in. But, Jack had said Kyle's own power was still there. He would have one chance to do what he wanted to do. Under his breath, hoping Cliff could hear him, Kyle said, "Close your eyes." He saw the smallest nod of Cliff's giant head and Kyle spun, as fast as he could, thrusting his hands out as he did so. Brilliant white light flew from his palms in every direction.

Since the eyes of all undead were looking directly at him, they were all temporarily blinded. In doing this, he had blinded Jack. He sprinted to Cliff and jumped into the saddle. As the dragon's great green body lifted into the air, Kyle threw a light bubble around all three of them. His power was greater than it had ever been. He felt it in his core. He was able to shield even the huge dragon from sight.

He leaned in to Cliff's ear, "Evade. Do not take a direct route."

Cliff must have known what he meant, because he flew West, then south, the opposite of the direction of the Bluffs. Kyle looked down to see not dozens, but hundreds of eyes devoid of color, looking in all directions. Jack was searching the skies for them. It had not taken him long to recover.

Kyle leaned in once more, "We have to get back fast."

Cliff veered, in a large circle and headed back to the Bluffs.

"Are you alright?" Kyle asked, turning to check on Ted and Eric.

Ted nodded, "They are gone. My powers are just gone. It feels like someone took one of my limbs. I can't describe it."

Eric wheezed, "You have to retreat. He took my men out so fast. You have to save your people, Kyle. It is the only answer."

Kyle turned back around. He didn't understand. Not only were his uncle's powers gone, but Eric's also, and Kyle's were not affected at all. If anything, he felt stronger. Jack had called him an Arch mystic, what was that? All of the council members should be at the Bluffs by now, they would decide together what to do. Perhaps Jenny could research it. Did she still have powers?

# EARLY SUMMER

" _The dawn always brings change. Such it is with the day, as it is with the age. When a new age dawns, it is identified by the change."_ – Dr. Ephraim Shimon, _The New Age_

# CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

This was not good. Not only had Kyle not been gone that long, the dragon upon which he rode was making erratic turns as if avoiding something. Britt held Cooper close as he rushed toward the landing. His power had left him, but he didn't want to scare his son. It was such a drastic feeling. He had heard the shouts from others at the time, and could even now see people collapsed to the ground. He knew what they felt. His son apparently did not.

"Daddy?" Cooper said into his ear, "Is Papa back?"

"Yes, sweet boy," Britt said calmly, "We are going to see him."

The little arms wrapped around his neck was one of the most wonderful feelings he could imagine. The joy of those arms and the worry for his fiancé all combined into a mish-mash of emotions for which Britton was not prepared. He waited on the landing alone, soaking in the love from their adopted son, and hoping for the best. Cooper had been taught not to freeze everything around him, but Britt could still feel that cold skin and knew that at least Cooper's powers were still there.

Cliff dropped clumsily onto the landing and Kyle leapt from his back, running over to Britt and their son. Ted lethargically pulled himself from the saddle in which he sat and lowered a listless form to the ground before Cliff perched looking southward. Something was definitely not right.

Kyle ran up and hugged them both, "Your powers?" he asked, looking into his love's eyes.

Britt silently shook his head no. Kyle looked to the boy.

"Papa," Cooper stated, "I am glad you are back."

A small tear running down his face, Kyle replied, "Me too, little man. Would you do something for me?"

"Of course, Papa," Cooper giddily answered.

"Could you make the small pond ice?" Kyle requested. The small pond was a tiny bit of water that was near the main pond on the landing. Cooper laughed and headed over to the water. Bending down, he stuck one finger into the pond and it immediately began to ice over.

"That is great, buddy!" Kyle exclaimed.

Cooper ran back and leapt into the air, where Kyle caught him and swung him around before pulling him in. Britt loved seeing them together, Kyle was such a wonderful father and Cooper made him so happy.

"Did I do good?" The toddler asked.

"You are amazing. Isn't he amazing, Daddy?" Kyle asked Britt.

Britt kissed the boy's forehead, "He is at that."

People were now making their way to the landing. It looked like the entire town was coming, which wasn't particularly surprising considering what was happening. Kyle surveyed the mass of people and then turned to Britt, kissing him and walking to a small speaking platform they had used for celebrations and such.

"My friends," Kyle began, as people began to quiet so they could hear, "Our lives are changing once again, it would seem. As many of you have noted, your powers have gone. It was Jack Collins and this latest round of flu. He somehow turned that flu into what he called a trigger and destroyed most people's powers."

The people's confusion and fear caused a mumble to ripple through the crowd. Even Britt did not understand how their old healer, Jack Collins, and flu could cause this.

One man called out, "Most?"

Kyle nodded, "Apparently, some people are not affected. We can be grateful for that, I guess. Everyone should know also that Eric Fine is here, as for his men at Manitou...they are all dead."

The fearful cries started then. Britt knew that it was important that people understand the urgency of action, but the fear could cause the wrong response.

Kyle calmed the crowd, so he could continue, "I can't tell you how he did it, or why. But, Jack triggered it right in front of me. My Uncle Ted collapsed, as I am sure many of you did."

"I feel blind," cried out one woman, "Can we get our powers back?"

Kyle looked at the ground, "I don't know. Some of you may still have powers. He specifically mentioned that the demi-humans would not be affected. Cliff showed no signs of impairment..."

Looking around the crowd, to where he would see werecats, harpies, faeries and centaurs, they all shook their heads, indicating they could still use their powers.

"What I need to know," Kyle continued, "Is who else can. My powers have not been impacted at all."

To demonstrate, Kyle threw some light bubbles into the air. The effect was immediate. It seemed to calm some of their fears. Kyle was proof that they might be okay.

"I need anyone who is not a demi and can still use their powers to come forward," he stated.

At first no one moved, but eventually Nat came up and whispered something in Kyle's ear. Emma made her way through the crowd, but that was it. Could it really be true that only Kyle, Nat, Emma and Cooper had powers any longer?

"Council leader," Came a shouted growl from the back. One of the werewolves was speaking, "The alpha wants you to know that she also still has her powers. She says they are stronger. She says she can protect anyone who wishes to come to her home."

Britt knew the look that came across his beloved's face. A plan was forming. Kyle's leadership skills were exceptional, and Britt waited to hear what he would say.

"Thank you, Max," He said back to the werewolf and the beast bowed its head in answer. "Everyone go back to your homes and gather a small pack. We can only carry one day's worth of items. Grab what you can and meet in the center of town. You have one hour. We will leave in four groups, guarded by demis. I know where my cousin is." The last statement caused a little stir, as a very Maxine-esque look of confusion came over all of the werewolves' faces and Kyle just smiled back.

As the group dispersed, Kyle turned to Britt, "Can you grab some of his things?"

"I am staying with you," Britt answered.

His love smiled at him with a hint of sadness, "I want to be with you two. But, I have to protect and plan. Someone needs to keep the little man safe." He ran his fingers through Cooper's gold locks.

Britt hated it, but he knew he was right. Cooper looked up, "Papa, I can help."

"I know you can," Kyle said, holding the boy's face in his palms. "I need your help. You are a brave boy, and a man of power! I need you to keep Daddy safe and help out all of these people who need our help. We have to be brave, son."

"I will be brave, Papa," the look on the boy's face was enough to melt his heart. "Come on, Daddy, we need to help."

Britt headed home and began to pack, as Kyle gathered the demis together for a last order.

# CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Seeing the last of the citizens off, including her brother's family, Nat walked back behind the gates and began securing them. Kyle came up and helped her, as did Perkins.

"Perk, the strong man," she said with a smile. "It is good to see you guys again."

"Yeah," he replied, "Under different circumstances, we might actually celebrate."

"Let's gather everyone," her brother ordered.

"Shouldn't we wait for my people to get back?" Perk asked.

"Artie and I spoke before they left," Kyle answered, "That is why you are here, to relay information."

The angel who used to be her friend nodded, and the three of them walked toward the landing. There, they met up with Cliff, Emma, Phineas, and Jenny. The werewolf Marvin sat near a tree in his own thoughts, but seeing them approach, he joined in as well. In this huge city they had built from the ground up, they were the only eight remaining.

"There is no denying that Jack's puppets will soon be here," Kyle began. "We haven't seen them yet, but he is nothing if not sneaky. We need to warn the other towns. Phineas and I will ride to the south and east. Kelly never answered his summons. We need to see why Kelly never arrived, so we will visit Carson and Soaring Eagles and assess them. We need information, and to relay warnings."

Phineas nodded. Nat knew that harpies had already been sent to Phineas' towns, to inform his people to make their way into the hiding places in Black Forest, and to take anyone with them they could.

"I need to ask everyone else to risk their lives in pursuit of the safety of our people. I can't order it. I need to ask," Kyle stated flatly.

"On the contrary," Jenny said sheepishly, "You are our leader. You have to order it, and it is our duty to obey."

"I hear you," Kyle continued, "but I am still asking, not ordering. Jenny, Cliff has agreed to take you to your towns, then north to Monument to warn the freeholds. We have warned both Adam and Niall. Their towns are secure, and they are meeting the others under Max's protection. They were closest, so it was easier. Are you willing to take this mission?"

"Of course," she agreed.

Turning towards Nat, Kyle asked, "Sis, I need you and Perk to head up to see the Grand Master and discover if he has any wisdom for us. Artie and the others will meet you all up there when they have completed guarding the refugees. Did you use the stone Dad gave you?"

Nat nodded absentmindedly, "Yes. Nothing. I can't tell if he is receiving the impulse. I know other stones work, but this is directly tied to him. I am worried, Kyle."

"I am too, Nat. We can't think about that right now," he put his hand on her shoulder. "We have to take care of our people."

"What about Mountain Shadows?" Emma asked.

Nat turned to her, "They have already left. My people passed the cliff while the second group was departing from here. They joined at the road and headed on. They collected Jordan and your people. We received word about an hour ago, I thought you knew."

Emma just shook her head no, but the relief was clear. "What do I need to do, Kyle?"

His face was sad, but Kyle knew what he needed to ask of her. "Doctor," he said, "I need you to stay behind for a bit."

Emma was not a fighter, so Nat wasn't sure what to expect from her. The steely resolve the older woman showed demonstrated the mettle of their people. She said nothing but did not shrink away.

"I need you to build brushes and hedges to protect what we have left and keep the horde of undead out," Kyle continued. "There are no longer any people who can refill your power, so it will take time and rest. I am estimating how long all of this will take, and how long before Jack's army arrives, but you should have time. Marvin will stay with you, and let you know when someone is coming to pick you two up. It won't be long."

Emma nodded her assent.

"What about the Dry Lands?" Jenny asked, the concern clear in her voice.

"We can't, Jenny, I am sorry," He replied sadly.

Nat knew that Kyle couldn't bear to leave anyone behind. The Dry Lands made up the towns of Chapel Grounds and Falcon. They were the home of those who had been the Faith. But, she was sure Kyle had wanted to warn and rescue them just as much as Jenny now did. It had taken Ted, Britt, and Nat to convince him that it couldn't be done. He had a responsibility to the people of the Bluffs and their townships. The people of the Dry Lands were secondary in importance. It was one of the hardest things about leading, their uncle had said.

"Be safe, my friends," Kyle said to everyone, "I will see you at the Academy when this is all over."

As everyone prepared to leave (except Emma and Marvin), Kyle pulled Nat aside. His eyes were glossy with forming tears. He had held it together, but he was worried for her. "You are all I have left," he whispered, "come back to me."

Nat hugged him, and replied, "I will come back, but I am not all you have left. You have a son, and a soon-to-be husband. Make sure you come back to them!"

He smiled and agreed. Nat walked over and threw an arm around Perk's shoulders.

"Damn," he said, "If I would have known I would get some physical contact out of it, I might have done the end of the world thing myself."

"Don't get any ideas," she warned, but she couldn't keep the grin off her face. Trying to keep her feelings to herself was becoming second nature, but it sure was nice to be around her friends once again.

# CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Cal felt the tug of the stone in his pocket, but he couldn't respond right now. It was the only stone he kept with him. For now, he needed to hide his abilities. He needed to be a refugee, one hidden among the masses. Assessing those around him was second nature. Keeping his abilities dampened was not. It took quite a bit of concentration to keep his powers hidden. He had seen people fall apart as their abilities had left, and it had changed his purpose somewhat. Rather than losing his abilities, they had grown even stronger. For now, he couldn't think about that. He had a job to do.

For months now, he had trained with his old Sensei, Grand Master Pike. Together, they had begun to increase his focus, which in turn increased his memories. But sadness and pain overtook him if he went too far down that road. He had a hard time forgiving himself for failing his family. He had lost Kate, and abandoned the kids, during his amnesiac times. Now, as the pieces of the puzzle came together, he found it easier to avoid them altogether. The man who always knew what to do, what to say, was at a loss for words and uncertain of his actions. But, not out in the world.

Out in the world, he could just be The Hermit, a bogeyman of power and mystery. He wore this persona like a mask. Right now, he and Pike had decided that he would take the trip south to check on other towns and get some perspective.

Keeping his head down, he whimpered as best he could. His voice had never fully recovered, and he had regrown his beard. He looked like the Hermit again, though a little less dirty.

"You," a guard at the gate looked at him, "What magic did you have?"

Cal responded with a shrug and pointing at his throat as he tried to squeeze out nonsense words in the hopes they weren't smart enough to figure it out. His hopes were answered.

"Fine," the man said, "You will do. Put him in the cart. That is all!"

The other guards pushed back against the throng of refugees. Cal looked over the cart on which he sat and felt pity for the people. They didn't know why their powers had disappeared, but he did. It could only be one thing. They felt weak, and alone, and they sought refuge at a monastery. Cal had taken one look at these guards and knew they could not consider themselves men of any god. Over a year before, he had seen the look of genuine faith on the followers of Minister Sal. He had known that the man was the same sort of scum that had always taken advantage of people looking for hope. But, the people who followed Sal were genuinely people of faith. These men were different.

The cart began its ascent up what had once been Colorado's Highway 55, into the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range. The Blood of Christ Mountains, an interesting moniker for what was now taking place behind the walls and gates near the monastery, if all he had heard was true. But, what could be causing it? And, could he harness what they were doing to improve the situation for the people he cared most about. The tug from the stone told him that Nat's abilities still worked. That, at least, was a cause for calm. Her reasons for the call had to be dire. It was the first time she had used the stone since he had given it to her. That meant a real danger was brewing. He needed to make this trip quicker than he had originally intended.

As the cart neared the first set of walls and gates, Cal saw that Terras had been hard at work before the plague set in. The walls were huge and blocked off any access to the mountains. They stretched in both directions, north and south, as far as the eye could see. Rumor had it these people had walls on every entrance. The swollen Arkansas river rushed out from under a place in the wall built especially for it. Based on its placement, Cal guessed there was a great reservoir behind that wall. It would have been a wonderful place to hold tens of thousands of people. But instead, it was set up to house the privileged few, while the rest of humanity starved and struggled outside its massive walls. The true test of those inside the walls would be how they responded now that the people outside the walls needed the protection and comfort they could provide.

The guards on the first set of walls had bows and spears. There were more of them than Cal had even expected. It seemed the privileged did not wish to be disturbed by the problems of the masses. Passing within the second set of gates, every person on the cart gasped. It was beautiful, lush and green. The buildings (clearly built by Terras) were intricate and ornate. While the people outside the walls had looked like vagabonds, the people inside wore extravagant garments from before the Event. It looked very much like the Hampton's had come to the elven city of Rivendell. Cal was finding it hard to hide his astonishment and disgust.

As he looked around, he recognized that another rumor had been proven true. All of these people still had their powers. Some boys played with light and some others grew flowers to impress each other. Perhaps he had finally found what he was looking for. But this place was huge. How would he locate what the Grand Master had sent him for? A man in designer jeans and a puffy dress shirt walked toward them.

"Disgusting," he said when he drew close, not bothering to quiet himself, "Get them all bathed, and that one shaved," he stated, pointing at Cal.

The guard answered, "Yes, sir. Should we feed them first?"

The man was aghast at the thought, "They will eat with the others when the dinner hour strikes for the servants. Now, do as I say or I will report you."

"Yes, sir!" The man snapped to attention. Watching him, it was clear to Cal the man had never served in the military. An experienced eye could spot a military man. Cal was nothing if not experienced. There was a hierarchy here. They were separated into classes, that much was clear. The man who flaunted his power was new to it, he wore authority like an ill-fitted suit, uncomfortable and unseemly. But the ones who completely ignored the people on the cart? Those were the truly privileged. They didn't even note the lower-classes were in existence. Cal looked around and could see the culture at play. There were servants he could see, as well as new power and old power. The guards seemed to be one step up from scum, and Cal was in the category of scum.

This was a different reality from what he had seen in the world since the Event. It was the historical class system on steroids. But, there was something else at play here. They still had powers, or at least the privileged did. It had only been a short time since the powers had disappeared, but it seemed obvious that it was near universal. Calvin Ward was once again different.

# CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

There were no clouds on this early spring day. It was cold high in the air, riding on Cliff's back. It was beautiful, and almost enough to make her forget her loss of power and the impending doom of an ever-growing army of the dead on the move. She looked down at what she had once known as the three lakes that surrounded the little town of Monument. Most of the town was now under water, with little islands popping up throughout. No longer three lakes, Monument was an expansive body of water with tiny holds spread throughout. As Jenny looked down, she would occasionally see people run in fright as the giant serpent flew overhead. Cliff was used to it and took no notice. This was Jenny's first time seeing it, and she was stunned that this young man's ego had been able to take the fear and revulsion coming from so many. She thought back on Cliff's arrival back at the Bluffs, when his own brother had thrown a spear at him. It made her sad for him.

Cliff began to take the wide circles which Jenny had come to know was his manner of a light landing. When he needed speed or evasion, he tended to drop down quickly and stick a landing. But, this was jarring and a little painful if one was riding on his back. They had seen a gathering in the distance and decided to approach it differently, so as not to scare them off. Jenny leapt from the saddle on Cliff's back and he jumped back into the air. He would protect her from above, as she approached on the ground. She heard the crying as soon as she was within earshot. She was walking into a funeral.

Waiting near the edge of the gathering out of respect, she paused until someone noticed her. Rather than being afraid, the people were rather welcoming.

"Join us, it is okay," sobbed a young woman by the graveside. They had erected a wooden cross above the grave. She had seen similar markers in old western movies and suspected that is where they got the idea. "Did you know Manny?"

Jenny was shocked into clarity by the question, she shook her head no. "I am so sorry for your loss. If I may ask, how did he pass?"

One of the men nearby answered, "He was on his way back from market. We guess he lost his powers mid-jump, because we found him with his head bashed from what seemed like a fall. He is my brother, Emanuel Cortez. My name is Ricky. What the hell is that?"

The fearful crying overtook the sad crying, but Jenny just stepped up. They had caught sight of Cliff. "It is okay," she told them, "it is just my ride."

One of the little boys nearby smiled, "you rode here on a dragon?"

"I did," Jenny replied. "His name is Cliff. He used to be a boy."

"How horrible," said one of the Mom's nearby, "who did this to him?"

"It was his choice," Jenny answered, suddenly protective of her friend. "He wanted to be a dragon, and a friend made it happen with her powers."

"So, you still have powers?" Ricky queried hopefully.

Jenny just shook her head again, "No, mine are gone. I have a few friends who were not affected by the plague. Are there any people here who were not impacted?"

"Not in our hold," Ricky replied, "But, maybe some of the others. We haven't been anywhere since the powers went away. Are you saying it was caused by a plague?"

"Yes," Jenny said, "we believe it was caused by a flu, or cold, which was very mild at first. It was an invention of an evil man. Is there any way we can meet with your leaders?"

"We don't have leaders. We are free people." Ricky's response was so matter of fact, that it felt rehearsed. She wondered how many times he had said that in the last four years.

"So I will have to warn each hold one at a time. How many are there?"

"Hundreds," Ricky responded, "We will call a gathering though. I hope you are up for the long walk to market, though. We have to go around the lake."

"Cliff can fly us over," Jenny offered with a smile.

Ricky shook his head, "If you come in on a dragon, no one will come out to meet you. No, I think we should walk."

Jenny accepted his logic on that and went off to meet Cliff away from the group. He wasn't going to like this, but it was what needed to happen. She hoped he wouldn't feel too rejected. She worried about his feelings more and more with each passing day.

# CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

The day was not as bright as when they had woken. Though the sky was clear blue, and the sun shone brightly, a pall hung over everything now. It wasn't even the powers with which Kyle surrounded both of them, as he and Phineas watched from the comfort of invisibility. It was the sadness of watching the subjugation of a town. There was nothing they could do.

They had arrived too late, but under the cover of a bubble of invisibility which hid their presence, Kyle and Phineas had watched as the undead Kelly had come out of the town, followed by a larger group of the dead than he probably went in with. There was no sign of Jack, of course. The man did not come out himself, he sent the dead to do his work. They had done it efficiently.

Carson had the same walls, newly built and manned with live men and dead alike. Kyle recognized the look of an oppressed people in the few he could see being forced to work in the fields nearby. Tears welled in his eyes as he tried to figure out how he could have saved them. These were his people too.

"Kyle," Phineas whispered, "We must go."

"I can't leave them like this," Kyle stated in a small voice, which sounded tinny even in his own ears.

"We will avenge them," The centaur consoled him, "But the two of us can do nothing. We don't even know how many are alive, and how many are flesh puppets."

It was a good point. Unlike in the movies of old, there wasn't a clear idea of who was alive and who was dead among the fresh undead. They walked normally, moved like the alive people. It was only close up, when one could see their eyes, the milky fading of color from the iris, that one could see the difference. It was only when one heard the raspy voices that one could hear the difference. Other than that, the dead looked just like the living. Once decay came into play, their skin took on a different color and their decaying muscles betrayed their existence with stuttered movements. But, Jack was smart enough to lose the ones that had decayed.

Kyle nodded, and climbed aboard Phineas' back. Phineas moved slowly, being careful not to displace bushes or grass in such a manner that their passing would be noticeable to the ever watchful eyes of the dead. His hooves would make noise if they moved too fast or hit rock or pavement, so they had to move slowly.

They passed a sign, where a man was painting words in his own blood. Once close enough, Kyle recognized the walking corpse of the man who had once been Commander Janos. He was a kind and diligent former soldier who led the group of warriors stationed at Carson. Right now, he was dipping his hands in the slash across his belly and painting words in the blood which encased his hands.

The sign read:

CARSON

Under New Management

Property of the Necromystic

It was maddening. Kyle felt powerless to stand against the evil and arrogance of the man who had once been one of them. How could Jack do this and keep his soul? Phineas continued his slow walk until they were well out of eyesight of the town. Then, Kyle's tears flowed freely. It was too painful. How many of his people would either bend the knee or become part of Jack's army of dead people? He vowed a silent oath to make this right.

# CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

"Just drop me," Nat shouted at Perk.

He shook his head.

"Do it now, or I will punch you until you do," she added, "Trust me, it won't take long."

Feeling his grasp loosening, she pushed away from him and fell in a swan dive over a hundred feet to the ground. Landing on her feet, she sprang into a full sprint as soon as she hit. She really would have liked to see Perk's face while he watched that move, but there were more pressing matters. Pulling the Samurai sword from her back and the long dagger from her belt, she charged into the attackers.

Not knowing what actually caused damage was a problem, so Nat decided to just cut everything. Her powers had increased when everyone else's had left them. She had a sense of danger that went along with her super-human fighting abilities and endless stamina. Cutting rapidly through the onslaught of the dead army, she reached the center of the defenses and turned to meet their foe. Woodland Park was under siege.

Planting one foot down, she executed a back flip and landed right in the middle of a group of the undead. She twirled in place, slashing her blades in a manner reminiscent of a blender, tearing flesh from bone and limb from body. Still they came.

They didn't bleed much, but her work was absolutely covering her in blood. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Perk drop down and bash a few heads before rising into the air for a new pass. Finally, she caught sight of Grand Master Pike. He was completely surrounded, but the seventy-eight-year-old man moved like a man half his age. He had no weapon, but a small hunting knife, but he was a sight to behold. Punching, kicking, slashing and twisting, he dispatched one after another. It was not enough.

As Nat made her way toward him, she saw the axe bury itself in his shoulder, followed by a hundred stabs from the dead around him. Pike slipped below her viewpoint and she screamed.

"No!" She yelled and doubled her effort to get to him.

Nat was leaving a wake of dismembered corpses, but it was taking far too long to get to him. When she finally did, her worst fears came true.

Pike stood up, the blood still awash around his body, his entrails hanging out of the front of him. Had the axe not been buried in his shoulder, she might have even missed the attack.

Jack had already raised him, and Natalee Ward was now facing one of the deadliest men in the world, powers or not. He began to move with a speed his advanced age had not allowed. Jack's control of him did not take into account age, or pain, or stamina. The body moved the way Jack told it to move.

The small man kicked her so hard in the stomach, that it propelled her through the air to land fifteen feet back. Quickly hopping to her feet, she dispatched three of the dead who got too close and positioned herself to dismantle the man her father had learned everything from as a child. She did not let her sadness at this fact intrude on her need to destroy him.

He rushed toward her, and she braced herself for a prolonged fight. She also needed to be constantly aware of the other undead and the living. Each time one of the defenders fell, they would almost immediately raise as a foe. On the Grandmaster came. When he was five feet in front of her, a flash of light alarmed her. Her senses did not warn her of danger, but when she looked up, she watched a stream of flame which leapt over her shoulder and lit the small man on fire. She glanced upward as her old friend, Lance Dellago, flew across the sky, lighting whole sections of the dead army on fire. The A Group had arrived.

This arrival did not end the fight. Destroying this battalion of undead attackers took some time. Every place in which a defender had fallen, an attacker rose up. Jack was raising them incredibly quickly. Thinking of the strengthening of her own powers, of Kyle's and Max's, it occurred to Nat that Jack triggering the virus had two purposes. The first was to make the masses powerless and easy to defeat. The second was to strengthen himself. Whatever Jack had called Arch-mystics, and she was one of them, were bolstered as much as the rest were weakened. The demi-humans' powers were not affected, neither weakened nor bolstered. She felt confident that he did not intend to improve anyone's powers but his own. So, he must not have been able to stop it. Jack Collins was a calculating man. He was not like her father, who was intuitive and deductive. Jack was more like a chess player, and he now had far too many pieces on the board.

They were making headway. Slowly, the numbers of undead began to thin. It was hard to tell, because one had to make sure every corpse lying on the ground was not about to stand up and attack. Crushing the skulls seemed to work well, as did fire of any kind. Lance was making quick work of burning any dead he found. As her attackers dwindled to none, she walked around, making sure no undead escaped. Turning a corner, she saw one corpse and walked to crush its skull. Before she got to it, it turned and laughed at her.

"Natalee Ward," it croaked. "You should be grateful for the gift I have given you. You fought well. Let us now negotiate."

"I want nothing from you, Jack," she replied.

"I took this town. Few survived, even the old man is in my control now. This is what I am capable of, you do not want me as an enemy. But, I have strengthened you, and your brother," Jack answered through the corpse, "it seems your family owes me a debt. You should consider that."

"Well," she answered, "I can take care of that debt. Here is the first payment."

She drove her short blade into one of the creature's eyes and lopped off the top of its head with her sword. As it fell, she hacked at the head until it was mush.

"That should take care of any further conversation," she mumbled to herself.

Finding no more undead with which to deal, she returned to the center of the defenses, where a man was speaking to Artie.

Seeing her, Artie turned, "Here she is, she came to warn you."

"A little too late, I am afraid," Nat said, "Hi, I am Natalee Ward."

"Cal's daughter?" the man said.

"You know my dad?" she queried.

"Of course," he said, "He spent most of the last year here with the Grand Master. He spoke of you often. He is very proud. I am sorry, I am James Coulson. Everyone just calls me Coulson."

Nat shook his hand, "Is my dad here?"

Coulson indicated he was not, "He left on a mission of some sort which he arranged with the Grand Master. It was intended to be a secret mission, but when we were attacked, the Grand Master told me what you all needed to know. I need to share some information with you."

Coulson walked toward a small building at the back of the defenses and went inside. He returned a moment later with a bag and some weapons.

"This can wait," Nat stated hurriedly, "We need to get you out of here."

"We will be okay," Coulson answered with a smile, "Once I give you these items, Jack Collins will have no reason to bother us. I will take what is left my people west into the higher mountains. The Grand Master told us that distance makes a difference. If we can get far enough away from Mr. Collins, he won't be able to follow us or attack."

Nat looked at the bag, and accepted it, "How could he know much about Jack's power?" she asked, "And why aren't you sadder about your loss?"

"That was Pike's power and it will be missed," Coulson responded. "He could identify others' powers. His connection was not to the people, as most thought. It was instead to their powers which he was connected. In the end, it deeply affected him when he lost his own powers." The man stared at the ground, a sadness covering his features. "As to the sadness. I am sad to my core. But, this is how Grand Master Pike wanted to go. He died in battle and he harmed no others while under Jack's control. I am happy for him, while being sad for his loss."

Nat nodded. She would like to go out in a blaze of glory also, but she hoped it was not soon. Pike had lived a long and difficult life, if all the stories she had heard were true. This was a fitting end.

"I must tell you, though," Coulson continued, "We are almost certain that he is working with Eric Fine."

"Fine is in captivity," Nat answered. "My brother saw him as a prisoner of Collins'."

The shock on Coulson's face was quick, "He is dangerous. We can't let an undead version of..."

"Don't worry about it," Nat cut him off, "He was captured in Manitou. My brother rescued him, but we are keeping him under guard. His powers are gone."

"That, at least, is good news," The man visibly calmed, "I have some items which the Grand Master wanted Calvin Ward's children to have. There are three swords and five daggers which he smithed himself. They have patterns folded into them, and gems in the hilt. They were made by Master Pike and your father. Before the attack, he was trying to find a way to get them to you and your brother."

"Do gems still work?" Perk asked from his perch nearby.

"Of course," Coulson answered, "What Mr. Collins did was something else altogether. It seems that he used a virus to affect DNA strings. So, in those who are of a strength like your father's, or apparently yours, it actually increased your powers. In everyone else, like myself, it destroyed those powers. However, we can use items and the focus stones and patterns allow us to mildly grasp at our former powers. So, if one was a pyrokinetic before, with a focus stone, they might be able to light a stick or a match. It isn't sustainable and is much more draining."

"So, healing stones could work?" Mara asked.

"Yes," he answered, "In fact, I have two healing medallions in this pouch, along with two other items. Grand Master Pike created two gems with his powers. His powers were advanced in many ways, but very specific. He had the ability to calm great groups of people, to impact their emotions through their use of power. But, this was not something he put into a stone, unfortunately. He had another, more interesting power though. As I told you, he could identify other people's powers. This power, he imbued into two stones. With these stones, you should be able to assess other people's strength and what their power actually is. It may help you find others with strong abilities."

"Arch-mystics..." Nat breathed out.

"What?" Coulson asked, confused.

"It is what Jack Collins called us. Those of us strong enough to not lose our powers, he called us Arch-mystics." Natalee's head was spinning, she would need to get back to Kyle and let him know. "Can we help you get to safety?"

Coulson shook his head, "No. Collins was after the Grand Master. He wanted to use him as an emotional guard against your father. Pike knew it, we all knew it. With the Grand Master gone, Collins has no reason to be here. We are of no value to him, nor has Woodland Park. However, it is still too close. We will disappear into the woods."

"Okay," she replied, "Thank you for this information and for your help. I better get back to my people. I wish there was a way for you to alert us if you need us."

"Be well, Natalee Ward," Coulson said in farewell, "We are survivors. Many of us survived a long trek before we knew we had powers to help us. Oh, one more thing. When you see your father, tell him we found out that the angel wand went to the entertainers."

"What is an angel wand?" Mara asked.

"It was made by the only other person who could change DNA," Coulson responded.

"Annie Grace," Izzy said.

"Indeed," Coulson continued, "We don't know how it would help, but Cal had gone looking for it."

"Why is it called an angel wand?" Nat asked.

"We were never quite sure," Coulson replied, "It is a small piece of carved wood, with a few gems in a line up one side. It has a fairly large feather which came out of one side of it. The feather was dark black, like a raven's."

"Oh my god," Izzy exclaimed, "The stick she carried around. It had the feather I gave her to thank her wrapped around it. That is the angel wand. It has to be."

That made sense. One needn't look too far for these things. The most obvious answer often was the correct one. Nat nodded, "Okay, thank you Mr. Coulson. We wish you a good journey, and a safe place to rest."

Nat walked over to Perk and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, the young man smiled and leapt into the air, spreading his wings broadly. As they flew back towards the old city, Nat thought on her father. If he was an Arch-mystic, maybe he was still alive as well.

# MID-SUMMER

" _When a society is crushed, and the people go off in separate directions, the culture slightly changes. Each individual strand of survivors takes on their own identity and purpose." –_ Dr. Joel Burnhardt, _The Diaspora_

# CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

"You clean up well, don't you?" asked the small man who was assessing the new arrivals. He glanced over Cal's naked body hungrily.

Cal had been bathed and shaved free of hair on both face and head. It was apparently a sign of their status as low, unclaimed servants. If he had assessed it properly, and he always did, one of two things was about to happen. Either they would be sent directly to train as servants for the wealthy households, or they would be separated into purpose groups prior to the training. Analysis being his bread and butter, Cal correctly assumed the latter.

"Alright, everyone line up," the man called out as guards roughly pushed people into a single line.

Walking up and down the line, the man looked each person once-over and made mental note of their characteristics before speaking. There were thirteen arrivals in this group, Cal was the sixth in line and stood in the very middle. He was also the tallest person there. At six-foot-two, he had never considered himself inordinately tall. But, here he was a good four inches taller than the next man, and more than that above any of the women. He also was thin, but clearly muscular, where most of the others looked like they hadn't had a good meal in months.

The man started to his right, walking down the line. "Mines, guards, mines, pleasure, service, service..." He rattled off all of the designations, while another young man, clearly of the service group, wrote down each one.

The man stopped before Cal and looked him up and down, "This one, pleasure or guard?"

"It is your choice, master," the young servant said.

"Of course it is my choice," the master spit dismissively, "You imbecile. I was speaking to myself. Pleasure."

The man continued on, "Service, guard, mines, mines, mines, and what is this one doing here?"

Cal glanced sideways. The old woman about whom the master was speaking was sobbing gently.

"Throw her back outside the walls," the master ordered.

Cal stepped forward, grunting, he pointed at her.

"She means something to you?" The man asked, walking back the way he came. He stood before Cal for a moment, a nasty, mocking smirk planted on his face. "Fine. Send them both to the mines. Once she dies, bring him to pleasure training."

As the master disappeared, the guards separated the naked people and pushed the seven designated for "mines" toward another cart. There, they found jeans and t-shirts to put on. Cal grabbed a shirt which had a super hero logo on it and clothed himself as quickly as he could. He then helped the older woman get dressed.

"Thank you," she stated, "What is your name?"

Cal shook his head, pointing to his throat to let her know he could not speak. Without the stones now buried in a hiding place only he knew, he could not speak.

"I will call you John," the old woman stated, "John Smith." She smiled a toothless smile and Cal nodded and smiled back.

Helping her on to the cart, he then aided each of the others on board, in their various stages of weakness and starvation, before jumping on himself. As the horse-drawn cart took off up the road, Cal made a mental note of the direction in which each of the other groups had gone. He was after information, but if he could free people in the process, he would do so.

The idea of pleasure servitude repulsed him. He didn't have deep memories of his past, even with the help Master Pike had given him. But, he had flashes of memory. He knew that in some far-off country, covered in blowing sand, he had found a brothel where women were held against their will and forced into sexual slavery. The memory gave chills and the anger of that find returned to him now. When would human beings stop subjugating others for their own desires? Apparently, the end of the world as they knew it was not soon enough. But pleased to be free of the tasks of the pleasure servants himself, he still was unsure how difficult the mines would turn out to be. How long would he need to work there before he could safely slip away and find out what he needed to know? He couldn't give an answer, but he knew he would remain as long as the old woman needed him. He hoped that would still be some time yet.

# CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

The sound of a screech broke through the air. Jack was toying with them, and Adam knew it. Holding Rose close to his body, he gave up all hope of stealth and nodded to Erica, before breaking into a run for safety. It was his army training which had him stay behind at Hillside to make sure everyone got out and made their way to the Academy grounds. He was the leader, and the leader stayed until all of his people were safely out. He wondered why he had not sent his own family though. At the moment, it seemed an egregious oversight. Now, all he could hope was to see a dog before he saw the dead.

A loud crash to their right sent them scrambling to the left, down a dirt path and into the brush. Were they there yet?

"Adam, no," Erica shrieked, looking forward.

He looked up to find a half dozen undead standing in his way. They were people Adam knew from his town. They had not made it to the Academy. Jack had got to some of his people, at the very least. He and his family turned to go the other way and saw their doom. Behind him walked another dozen or so. They were completely surrounded.

Rose began to cry. The corpses all laughed a joyless laugh together. The sound was deafening. There were a lot out there.

"Adam, Erica, it will be wonderful to add you to my community," Jack told them from out of a legion of mouths.

"Why are you doing this, Jack?" Erica screamed at him. "We were kind to you."

"Kind? You call it kindness to always doubt my motives, my judgment?" Anger broke through in the voices of his puppets, "You ask why I am doing this? Because I can. Because none of you believed in me. Well, you will believe in me now."

Adam and Erica had lost their powers with everyone else, but their powers had no offensive use anyway. As the swath of the dead closed in on them, Adam looked for anything which would allow him to fend of the attack and save his family. The Cross family would not go down like this.

There was nothing in the vicinity, though. Handing Rose to Erica, he balled his fists. Hopelessness set in. Closing his eyes, Adam said, "get it over with, you bastard."

"Very well," he heard the voices say, then nothing.

He waited for his doom, the end of everything he had ever dreamed of, his hope for his family. But, nothing happened. The pause was long; the man was toying with them.

"Adam," his beautiful wife whispered in awe, "Open your eyes."

Expecting the worst, Adam opened his eyes and saw the bodies just standing there. No longer were they walking toward him and his family. They looked like they froze right where they were. One of them spoke.

"What are you holding, Erica?"

Adam turned to look at his wife. She was only holding their daughter. He turned back toward the dead, searching the ones in front and behind.

"Is this a trick?" he asked, staring all around at the corpses.

"I don't think so," Erica answered.

As he turned to look at her, he saw why she didn't think so. The eyes of his baby girl glowed with power. The only person whose eyes had glowed like that, that he knew of, was Calvin Ward when he was the Hermit. Rose Cross was an arch-mystic. What her powers were, none could tell. But, somehow, she was shielding them.

He would have to figure this out later. She was only one-year-old, but she had shut down Jack's power. Not wanting to tempt fate, and keeping his eyes peeled for more of the undead, he motioned in the direction he wanted to move and Erica carried their child that way.

They did not see any other dead, neither animated nor collapsed, as they journeyed the rest of the way. They did finally see a dog, but it didn't seem to notice them. Eventually, they made their way all the way to the stadium at the old Academy, where people were gathered. Britt and Ted walked toward them.

"We were beginning to worry," Ted called out.

"For good reason," Adam answered. The query on both of the other men's faces was enough, "The dead came after us. Some of my people were among them. Did any make it?"

Sadness covered Britt's face, "About half, it seems. They were set upon by the dead shortly after leaving Hillside. Jack seems to have been ready for us to flee from our homes."

"He does at that," Adam mumbled. "Have you seen any more near here?"

Ted shook his head. "Max has some story to tell. She says she had a run in with Jack, and he may be afraid of her now. That won't last, though. He is a smart guy. He will find a way to get to us."

It suddenly occurred to Adam to ask, "Do either of you still have your powers?"

"No," Ted replied, "Just an average human again. The stones work though. It isn't much, but it is something. I also feel a little bit when I hold the staff which the Grand Master gave me. When Kyle gets back, I want to ask about the medallion. What about you? Do either of you still have power?"

Adam just shook his head, looking down. He knew the hopeful tone in Ted's voice. Since he had been at the Hillside, he could answer without question that Jack was the only healer who seemed to retain his power.

"The stones are good news though," he stated, "We sent all of those healing stones out into the other communities, and in trade. We can see about collecting some of those."

Both men nodded. "Our thoughts exactly," Britt added. "Come on, let's get you inside."

Adam looked back to the woods one more time before heading into the stadium. When Jack finally decided to attack, would his infant daughter be able to save all of them?

# CHAPTER FORTY

"No," the first man stated, rather coldly. "We do not 'belong' to your group and have no interest in it. We have survived so far; we will survive again."

Jenny's frustration grew with each person's words.

"If our powers are gone, why wouldn't this Necromystic's powers be gone too?" The second followed.

The third, a woman, was just as inane, "We know the Bluffs has wanted to swallow up the freeholds, to make your lands even greater. We will be free and bow to no one."

It was just too much. "We don't want anyone to bow," Jenny started, "We don't want any more lands. We are simply trying to help. Hell, we don't even have the Bluffs. You need to create some distance between yourself and this threat!"

The first man spoke again, "Ah! So, you have lost your home and now you come to take ours?"

"What are you talking about?" She was growing more and more frustrated.

All day, she had sat and explained to these people the threat they faced if they remained. But, Jack had never come this far. These people had never seen the army of the dead. They feared nothing. Even with the loss of their powers, they thought they could survive by what used to be called "rugged individualism". Had they no idea how they had already been living collectively?

"Friends," she began, "Let me restate it. I feel like we are getting lost in conspiracy theories, and bullshit..."

"There is no need for that language," the woman stated flatly.

Jenny shook her head, "No, I am sorry. I meant no disrespect. I am trying to help..."

"How did you get here?" asked someone from the growing darkness. Jenny looked into the crowd but wasn't sure who had asked.

"I rode," she offered, then pivoted to speak about something else.

The voice rang out again, before she could begin talking. "I see no horse, or bicycle. What did you ride?"

Jenny once again looked through the crowd. She could not make out who was speaking.

"It isn't important," she answered, "what is important is that you all are in danger..."

"We will determine what is important in our meeting," said another voice, to mumbled assent. This was heading in a bad direction.

"Answer the question," began one voice.

"Answer," came the voices of many, "Answer", "How did she get here?" "What did she ride?"

The cacophony of shouted questions was too much. She didn't want to lie to the people but thought they would be frightened by her response if she were honest. Who would not be afraid of a dragon?

Quietly, almost to herself, she answered, "A dragon. I rode a dragon."

The whole hall went silent. There was a long pause and then the laughter broke out.

Eventually, the first man spoke through a broad grin, "Oh, do tell us more. An army of Zombies is headed this way, and you came on a dragon to tell us?"

The crowd now roared with laughter.

He continued, "Young lady, as delightful as we all find your imagination, we here in the freeholds do not live in fantasy. We live in reality. We live in growing crops and raising livestock, in fishing and hunting. This is ridiculous. Are you even really in the Council?"

Jenny sat dumbfounded. Was it her job to convince them? She had been sent here for this purpose. One way to go would be to call out for Cliff, who she knew was flying high over the town, watching for any danger. Would that help? Was it worth helping people who were this pig-headed? And why hadn't Jack come this far? Was it a distance thing?

She decided that bringing Cliff into this would only scare people and drive them into even more fear and defensiveness. As such, she decided to make one more plea and leave.

"Believe me or not," She said in a louder voice. "Everything I have told you is true. I was sent to give you a warning, and you choose to treat me with disdain and derision. That is fine. I have given you the warning. It is the last we will give."

The second man stood up, "Oh, do you threaten us now? I knew it! What did I tell you all?" He had turned to the whole crowd to ask the last question, but now turned back to Jenny with rage on his face, "Will you attack us now?"

Jenny looked sadly at the group. She had no rage when she responded, "No. We will ignore you."

Jenny walked out of her meeting with a heaviness she could not shake. These people practically sprinted toward their doom, they were so intentionally obtuse. The tears began to well up in her eyes, fearing for them, even if they would not fear for themselves. She stomped into the darkness, and no one followed her. Ricky Cortez, her guide from the funeral, had just sat there. He did not tell them that he had seen the dragon himself. She could not blame him. The level of obstinacy in that meeting was profound, and he had to live there.

When she gained enough distance, she was about to light the stone she had brought, so Cliff would come to her. But, he had been watching. He dropped to the ground much more lightly than he usually did. The gem at his throat glowed for a moment.

"No luck, huh?" The great dragon asked.

"No, buddy," she answered, "No luck at all. Let's go home."

She climbed into the saddle on his back, knowing that they would not, in fact, be headed home. But, they were headed to their friends and loved ones, and perhaps that is where home can be found.

# CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Jack sat in his cavern, uncertainty filling his every thought. He had lost a whole squad of risen, and he didn't know why. He knew everything he needed to know about Adam and Erica Cross, their powers were weak to begin with, and completely gone now. But, his attempt to get to them was thwarted by a ball of light. What was Erica carrying? It wasn't that is had voided his powers. Instead it had overcharged them. Was it a powerful stone? Could they stop his plans with this item? He had to have it.

The only good news he had for the day was the fact that he had stopped Jenny Martinez from warning the freeholds. The distance had been great. In order to control one risen that far away, he had to pull out of all other risen. Immediately after his powers had been severed from the Cross family, he had turned his attentions to her efforts. He could focus that far away, but it took everything from his army, and it drained him greatly.

Re-inserting his consciousness into the vastness of the risen army closer to home, he settled down to rest. Their un-resting eyes would wake him if he should need to deal with something. For now, he needed to recuperate and think.

How could he "lose" a squad? He replayed the situation in his head over and over. They were trapped, the whole damn Cross family was within his grasp. But, as he drew the risen close to finish them off, he had lost the connection. To top it off, he could not re-establish that connection. he had blown a gasket, in old mundane terms.

He often left his corpses without direction, just as he had done today when he needed to long-distance focus. But re-establishment was so easy, he had never really considered what would keep his efforts fruitless. There was definitely an arch-mystic in the mix. But who?

The risen had closed in, then nothing. An odd thought occurred to him. Could it be the baby? He had helped Erica during her pregnancy, but there seemed to be nothing unusual. As a matter of fact, he had been surprised that the baby showed no power in the womb. He wasn't sure if that was normal or not, since he had never worked with a pregnant woman before, only with the Centaur mare.

His uncertainty was unacceptable. Ignorance could be his only downfall. He needed to know. A plan formed in his head. Yes, that would work. A trade would set them at ease. He could even call it a treaty. A live person would have to collect the hostage though. It was time to contact his allies.

# CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

As Kyle rode north, down an old main road, he saw the reception waiting for him. He had been on Phineas' back for miles now, and he was sure it was as hard on the centaur as it was on him. Although Kyle had them shrouded in a bubble which hid their presence from any observer, he could not control the sound. The clip-clop of hooves on asphalt was unmistakable.

The four men stood and scanned the horizon. They probably had no idea why they could not see the approach. One man reached down for something, and brought up a large branch, to which was attached an old white pillow case. It was a truce flag.

"What do you think?" Kyle asked Phineas.

"They do not frighten me," the centaur huffed, "Even if my powers were gone, I could destroy four men on a road. They have never fought a centaur."

Very few people in the world had ever fought a centaur, it was true. It was also true that Phineas still had considerable warrior powers. Kyle was as safe with him by his side, as he would have been with Cliff. Perhaps safer.

"Okay," he mumbled, "here goes."

Kyle dropped the bubble, but he knew what the men saw from his experiments back home. The men would see what looked like heat shimmer, then the man and centaur riding out in the open. Their startled expressions were expected. It also showed they were not of the dead. One of them stayed seated. Kyle tapped Phineas on the shoulder.

"I see him," the centaur replied, not needing to be warned.

The men waved the truce banner and greeted them, as they approached. There was no threat in their manner.

"Good afternoon!" one of the men called out. "The Lord's peace to you."

Kyle dismounted, rubbing his thighs lightly to remove the pain of a long ride. "You are of the Faith?"

"Indeed," the man replied, "You are Kyle Ward?"

The hairs on his neck stood on end, and next to him, Phineas bristled at the words. Kyle could see the muscles on the centaur's human half tense in response, and his tail switched nervously. There was absolutely no reason one of the Faith should know they were coming.

"You have me at a disadvantage, friend," Kyle stated coldly, "You know my name, but I do not know yours." Reaching down to his waist, Kyle gripped the hilt of his blade.

The men waved their arms. "We are unarmed," the speaker noted, "We are not here to harm you. We are just here to talk."

"How did you know I was coming?" Kyle asked calmly, not removing his hand from the hilt.

The man pointed to his seated companion, who rose and looked up. The pale eyes and gray skin demonstrated that the man was one of Jack's undead.

"Hello, Kyle," the scratchy voice said.

"You walk in friendship with the Necromystic?" Phineas shouted. His anger was obvious.

"Calm your pet," Jack said derisively.

"I am not a pet," Phineas responded and pulled the axe from its place on his side. The three men with Jack's puppet moved backward, cowering from the anger of the horse-man. Kyle lowered himself from Phineas' back and walked forward a pace.

Kyle put a hand on his friend's arm, "Don't let him manipulate you."

The centaur just huffed a sound half-human, half-horse and stomped, pacing back and forth behind Kyle. He did not put his axe away.

"It is a fair question, gentlemen," Kyle began, "How do you come to be traveling with one of these abominations?"

Kyle's use of the word did not go without notice. The men clearly had an affinity to the idea of abomination. But the smile that spread across the corpse's face told him that Jack enjoyed this game a little too much. It was the corpse who answered.

"I answered their prayers," Jack stated, "When they feared the powers which had grown out of control, I eliminated those powers. Their religion has use for those who rise from the grave."

The men stood quietly, not betraying any emotion. It was clear that they did not disagree with what Jack was saying. It was not clear whether they were allied, or just co-belligerent. He was astounded that Jack was able to convince people with a profound belief in the God of the bible to walk with a zombie.

"These people do not know you as we do," Kyle replied, "they do not know how dangerous you are."

"They do," Jack responded, "They know well. I am a danger to those who would subjugate them with powers from the devil. I am a danger to you, Kyle Ward. You no longer have the means to control them. They will sweep into your vacated cities and live good lives. They have chosen security, and peace, over chaos and war. I offered them that choice, and they chose well. I offer you the same choice."

"Good lives?" Kyle laughed, "This from the mouth of a dead man? Save your fruitless promises, Jack Collins. You want dominion."

"Why should my dominion not enable your good, peaceful lives?" he asked. Kyle was shocked that he so openly spoke of dominion, and the men weren't even concerned. "My dominion will secure their liberty."

"Dominion never secures liberty," Kyle answered. "These people are trading one fear for another, one form of control for another. What do you really want, Jack?"

"Do you hear him friends? He admits he was trying to control you. As to your question, Kyle? I want a truce," the corpse stated.

This time it was Phineas who laughed. He faced the walking corpse with a scowl, "A truce comes after the war, Lord of the dead!"

"I like that title, may I use it?" Jack spat back, "This war will kill your family, nag. This war will destroy everything you love. If you do not accept terms now, I will destroy every last one of you. I will raise most to serve me, and the rest will watch you die. Or, perhaps I will save you for last."

Kyle noted the word, "terms", and realized this is why they were really here. He saw his way out. "What terms do you offer, Lord of the dead?"

"I will make this offer once," Jack replied, "Accept it, or die. In four days, I will send these three men to the old Academy and they will collect two hostages to ensure your loyalty. Once the hostages are in hand, you can return to your cities. My risen will be the only guards. You will lay down your weapons. All of the archmystics will exile themselves, to be killed on sight if they return to the old city, or any of my towns. The same with the half-human abominations. That is it. Do it and live."

Kyle had more of an understanding of Jack's motives now. He would take two powerful mystics as hostages, and the rest would be exiled. Only those without power would remain. It was an ingenious plan which would secure his hold over the entire area. No one would be able to compete with him. He was counting on Kyle's desire for peace at all costs.

"Since you have always had a leering crush on my sister, I know she is one of your hostages. But who is the other, is it me or my father?" Kyle asked, knowing he had trapped Jack by showing this knowledge.

The corpse let out a tin laugh which pierced the soul. "What would I want with any of your family?" it asked, "Your time is over. You may wander the world as nomads or sell your services to the simpletons who would look on you in awe. I don't care. All I care about is that you leave. The two hostages will be Rose Cross and Cooper Paolo."

Kyle's blood ran cold. His face set in a scowl of protective rage, "I do not know that last name, Jack. But if you mean my son, Cooper Ward, you can go fuck yourself."

A small moment of silence ensued as Jack clearly took in a fact he did not know. "Oh, how cute," the corpse stated sarcastically, "the two queens have adopted."

Kyle was not going to be baited. He stood motionless, waiting for the next move by the Necromystic.

Finally, the dead man spoke his guttural answer, "Give them to my friends here in four days. There will be no more discussion. This is your only choice."

The corpse turned and walked east. The men with him looked at him and followed. After they had gone, Kyle turned to Phineas.

"My friend," he started, "I need a favor."

"Worry not, Kyle Ward," the centaur answered, "No one else will ever hear of this offer."

"Thank you," Kyle breathed. He did not want anyone to be tempted to kidnap his child for their own safety.

"So," the centaur neighed, "Why would he give us four days to prepare?"

"If I am a good judge of character, and I like to think I am, he is already moving on the Academy. At most, we have two days. We must get there quickly. Let's move."

# CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Ted walked toward the large gathering group in the middle of the former football field. Glancing high above the field, he could see angels and harpies and faeries alike perched on the old lighting posts, keeping a watchful eye for any sign of danger. He knew there were more in the trees of the closest woods, and even more flying high above, searching a farther scope. Cliff was up there in the clouds somewhere too, and that at least gave him some comfort. The boy dragon was as vital to their survival as his teen daughter was.

Max. They now called her the "Lady of the Woods", even though she was only fourteen years old. The reverence with which the common people held her frightened him. It wasn't just that he didn't want it going to her head. But, she had been gone for a year, and seemed stronger than all of them combined. She was in no way afraid of the looming attack from an army of the dead. She would just walk through, calming everyone else. He was both proud and confused. Did he even know her anymore?

He could see Britt holding together the remnants of their leadership. Everyone had returned. Like many times since the Event, he would have to make time to grieve for his surrogate father, Grand Master Pike. Pike had been everything to the two boys, Ted Craven and Calvin Ward, growing up in Los Angeles without fathers. Now, he was gone. Ted leaned heavily on the staff which Pike had given him.

"...It can't be done," Jenny was saying as he approached.

Popping into view and scaring the shit out of everyone there, Kyle rode into the group on the back of the centaur, Phineas. Ted took a moment to consider how normal he found it to be surrounded by fantastical creatures.

"What can't be done?" Kyle asked, hopping down from Phineas' back.

"We can't take thousands of people into the mountains," Jenny replied. "Coulson said he lost nearly three fourths of his people that first winter after he left Eric's compound. Why would we fare any better?"

"We are better prepared," Kayla responded. His wife had recovered from the malaise of the last year upon reuniting with their daughter. She was vibrant, even if not as much as she was prior to the death of her sister. Ted did not see Beth.

"But most of us no longer have powers, Kayla," Jordan offered, "how are we better prepared than they were?"

Kyle called them to order, "Come on, guys. Let's get it together. We will vote and make a decision. Structure helps us with these things."

Ted made a nod to his nephew, as the group broke down immediately into bickering. Kyle walked over, exasperated. They turned together to get out of earshot. neither of them even realized how close they were to the captive.

"We will never get anything done like this," his nephew blurted out when they were close.

From where he was tied, it was Eric Fine who responded, "No, you won't. There are times for group decisions, Kyle, and times when the people just need to rely on you and your judgment. They feel unstable, not in control. Take control. It is what is required."

Eric was sitting next to a post in the shade, unobtrusive and quiet. Ted looked at his old commander, choosing not to say anything. Ted might have said the same thing if a few more moments had passed.

Kyle looked to Eric, confusion and a strange look of understanding across his face. Ted could tell he wanted to argue with the man, but he was smart enough to hear good advice, even from a bad source. After a short delay, he looked at his uncle and nodded once more.

Walking back to the group, Kyle began to ask questions, "What do our current defenses look like? Do we have those with power spread out for maximum impact? What is the best route into the mountains?"

As people responded, Ted watched them physically relax a bit. He could see the shoulders relax and hear the tone of their voices shift to a less anxious pitch. Thirty years of military service had taught him how to interact with those under heavy stress. He was glad to be here for his nephew.

"The boy is a good leader," Eric mentioned, under his breath.

"That he is," Ted answered, sitting in the shade next to Eric, "but your advice was sound. I wish we could trust you."

"I wish you could also, Craven. I might be of help. In the end, I lost everyone under my command. I will not be asking for mercy."

Ted snorted, "Jesus, Fine. We aren't going to execute you. You know that, right?"

"I would have."

Ted looked at the sadness around Eric's eyes. He had never seen it before. Could this be true regret? He could never know. "I know," he answered, "It isn't our way."

Eric just nodded, and Ted got up, heading back over to hear the responses better. The answers were flowing now. The current defenses were fine. The problem was going to be getting thousands of people, probably more than ten thousand people, into the mountains and keeping them safe.

"Distance matters," Nat stated. "If we gain some distance from Jack personally, he can't send his minions after us, or at least not as many."

Kyle looked at her for a moment. After a pause, he said, "Minion? Who talks like that?"

She smiled, and everyone else did as well. She looked over to her brother, "Shut up."

Kyle was a natural leader like his father had been. He simply didn't have the experience of his father or uncle, nor the training of his husband, Britt. But, he knew how to listen. He knew how to help those under his charge, and to bring out the best in them. That was a talent which was hard to teach, and Kyle Ward was born with it.

"Okay," Kyle finally said, a little too forcefully, "Into the mountains we go. We have to be fast and protect our flank. We will lose some on the way. There is no way around it. People on the edges will be attacked. We will make for the pass up the ridge. It is also easier to defend once we get there. We will regroup up at the reservoir. Let's send groups of 500 at a time."

"Jack will be expecting this," Adam said, shaking his head. "We will lose more than a few. We might lose more than a thousand."

"I am open to any other suggestions," Kyle stated, his frustration showing. "If someone knows a way to get people out of the campus and into the hills without making them susceptible to attack, please speak now."

There was a long silence, eventually broken by Eric Fine, clearing his throat. "Actually, Kyle, I do. So, does your husband."

# CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Unlike how it was for the others, this was just a giant chess game to Jack. What move could he make to get them to sacrifice a pawn? Could he get a clear shot at the King without putting himself into a stalemate? All of this went through his head as he rode the horse up the long hill to the Bluffs. It was unusual for him to come out of a secure location, and mostly unnecessary. But, this move was of paramount importance. If he were to ever end this and return to the community, he needed to be in a position of power. They weren't going to want him there. His only chance was if they needed him.

As he rode to the gate he smiled. They had made Emma Pare create a huge growth over the gates and the road itself. It was cute, and a valiant attempt to block his efforts. His old friends still did not understand the depth of his power. He had watched them escape from the bluffs with his spy corpses, but those spies could not get close enough to the Bluffs to see this without being discovered. They had never known that this was his first goal, to take the Bluffs as his new base.

In order to exercise his control over a large enough area, a small cavern beneath the town of Manitou Springs was never going to be enough. For many of the same reasons that the Council had chosen the Bluffs, Jack chose it as his own. Its central location, vantage point, and defensibility all made it an ideal home base. Taking it from the Council only made it that much sweeter. He would rub their faces in it before he made an agreement to let them return. Contrary to his adversaries' assumptions, Jack actually had a number of followers who were not dead. The east had fallen quickly because he could protect them from the mystical abilities they feared so much. But, there were also those in the townships who preferred a stronger hand. Jack made them feel safe, and they had joined him for that reason.

This overgrowth was cute, but ineffective. Jack called up some of the risen warriors and set them to tearing into the brush to remove it. Dismounting from his horse, he turned to some of his allies.

"This will take some time," he said, "Can I offer you some refreshment?"

A man stepped forward. He smiled broadly, just as Jack remembered every day during their training at Hillside together. Antwon Shabazz had been a healer, but his powers were gone now. They had once been friends, and it had never set well with him that the Council had banished Jack.

"I would love some refreshment, bud," Antwon replied.

The others followed Antwon's lead and sat around a fire which he built nearby with a small gem he had taken from the Bluffs before deserting during the exodus. Jack, through the eyes of one of his risen spies, had watched him sneaking away. It had only been once Antwon was far enough from the others, that Jack had approached him. It was nice to have someone who still considered him human, as everyone else he met was full of fear and dread.

In the interests of hospitality, Jack had one risen bring up some of the goods he had taken from Eric Fine's stash. The man had loot from years of his existence as a bandit lord. That all now belonged to Jack. He would make his living followers happy, safe, and fulfilled. He needed the company of others. Being the Lord of the dead is a lonely business.

# CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

Commander Britton Ward, Kyle's husband, had laid out the plan well. It was brilliant, even if it had been instigated by a recollection of Eric Fine's. Already half their number had gone without notice, away from the Arena. Izzy and her friends were doing their part. They perched atop the lighting towers, just as they had done before. It did not sit well with her to run, to sneak away when she could take the fight to the man who had attacked her and hurt her love so deeply. Thank god Tristan was recovering. He was the only part of the A group who wasn't with them now. His injuries had been long-lasting, and he had already departed with a group. It was something that the corpse had coughed at Tristan which kept him so debilitated. It hurt deeply to battle without him at her side, but she knew it was the smart thing to do.

Looking across at Gavin, perched atop a nearby post himself, she could see his look of anger. They were all mad. They were mad for the attack on their friend, but also very sad for her. There was still no guarantee that Tristan would pull through. He was weakening by the day. She knew that, but the anger she tried to control threatened to overwhelm her. Tristan would not want that, and that was all that kept her from flying off on a fit of destruction.

Below, in the darkness of the woods, she saw the movement out of the corner of her eye and looked to her left. Continuing that look as though she did not see it, she glanced at Lance and he nodded. He had seen it too. The Army of the Dead was on the move. Unless she was very much mistaken, they were surrounded now. Per Britt's plan, it was their job to bring the dead in even closer.

These were puppets, not people. It would give Izzy no satisfaction to destroy them. It was the man behind the puppets she really wanted. But, she would have to settle for the catharsis of destroying these flesh puppets for now.

Artie flew high above them. Gwen had gone with Tristan and the first group for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that she was going to pop any second with the first angel born in the new reality. It would have been exciting, if Izzy were not so entrenched in her rage.

Lance must have been notified, because he was making the hand motion for seven. They were already three into their countdown. Izzy was the catalyst. She needed to get out of her own head and into the plan.

When she had counted down with them to one, she spread her wings wide and drew her power into her fists. Her hands and forearms glowed with a purple hue as the lightning coursed within her. She was sure Jack Collins watched this with some fascination, thinking she was going to shoot lightning at his puppets. She was not.

They had learned during the fight that had injured Tristan that her lightning would only freeze them. Instead, as planned she whirled in place and shot the four closest light posts with power, directing the electricity to ignite the filament in the giant bulbs which had once burned so brightly on night time football games at the Academy.

Just as they had done then, they did now, just not facing the field. The glaring white lights had been turned to face the woods near the entrance to the field. The world lit up in a manner it had not since the Event. The vision before her eyes was stunning.

In between the trees and out of the darkness crawled thousands of corpses. All heads turned in one movement, toward the lights that took away their cover. In unison, thousands of voices croaked out the same word.

"No," was the deafening note which pierced the night. As expected, Collins had sent the army under the cover of darkness to ensure a swift victory and get his hands on the two babies. It made Izzy sick to think of the atrocities that man planned for these children.

As planned, she and her friends leapt into the air. Flying straight upwards as arrows and bolts fell short of the planned targets of their wings, Izzy finally turned at the designated height. She gathered a gust of wind to protect Cliff from any wayward arrows and sent its rush in a direct wave just as Cliff swooped in behind it and unleashed a cone of flame across the front lines.

They were only a distraction. Cliff made a wall of flame around the field. If everything went according to plan, it should keep them free of the dead for another ten to fifteen minutes. That would be enough. Izzy was the last of her friends to fly off. They flew directly up so as not to give away their direction. As they did, Izzy lowered cloud cover over the field to confuse the enemy. She saw the dead ones looking at her as she lowered it. Jack had seen their planned escape. That was okay, it was all a part of the plan.

# CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

"Move out," the walking corpse croaked at him.

Antwon followed orders well. He wasn't even that thrown off by the army of dead people who traversed the woods. Jack had needed a living commander in the field, and Antwon Shabazz had been chosen. He held his arm up and let it fall forward in a motion to the hundreds of living members of his army. The dead moved without his instigation. His mother would not have been happy about his current predicament. As a devout Muslim, she would have been pained to see him interacting with the dead. Antwon bore the name of a follower of Islam, but it had never been for him. Living or dead, these bodies were just a weapon to be unleashed on an enemy. Knowing Jack as he did, he knew what none of the others did. Jack would not kill all of their old friends. Some may die, it was true. But Jack's goal was different. He wanted them weakened so they would be forced to allow him to return. Antwon wanted that for his friend.

It absolutely stunned Antwon that Jack could control thousands of corpses at once. All by itself, it was feat of prowess which most people could not fully grasp. He waited until all were in motion before he followed behind. He did not want to meet the full force of the Council's defense. There were still quite a few arch mystics in their group. In counter, the army of the dead still had those who had died before Jack triggered the change. The trigger had only worked on the living, so those who died with powers could still be used by the Necro mystic, at his leisure.

It was still hard to look at the corpse of his friend, Kelly, who had been killed and risen directly before the trigger. It was nice to finally not have to see him every day. Jack had kept him at the Bluffs for something. Kelly was a healer. Most dead healers became life-draining zombies upon their death and rising. Kelly had been different, and Jack had noticed right away. Collins' ability to assess the mild differences between one power and another were staggering. Had the Hermit not thrown him out of the Bluffs, Antwon had no doubt that Jack would have been a huge asset to the team. But, the man was not one to share information, so Antwon wasn't sure how he knew things, or what he had discovered about Kelly.

With the ring of fire dying out, the army of the dead walked toward the arena. No other fire had come, but some mystic had dropped a cloud cover, like a thick fog, over the whole area. There was a very good chance that the Council's defense would come under that cover, and Antwon would prefer not to look into the face of his old companions before they were captured or worse, killed. So, he had sent the dead first, then the living, and finally followed himself.

To his left, a group of a dozen or so corpses fell through a trap, into a pit, and Antwon raised his arm to send the living to check it out. His dead companion shook its head no.

"It was a trap, that is all. Hold back the living, I will take care of this," The gray-faced stranger related.

Antwon held his fist high, and the living stopped. The dead spread out quickly into a line to test the ground. This move cost them only about forty or fifty corpses. That would have been a quarter of his force, if the living had walked through. Jack, Lord of the Dead, had saved lives again. If only the Council could see his value.

As he passed by one of the pits, Antwon looked down to see the crumpled bodies of the fallen impaled on spikes. One of them looked up at him.

"Don't look now, buddy," the thing smiled at him with Jack's words coming out of its mouth. Antwon was the only one who Jack joked with, and he smiled back at the corpse.

"Anything else ahead?" he queried.

"We shall find out," said the nameless corpse to his left.

There were no more of these traps. It was just one line of pits, much like there had only been one ring of fire.

"They are trying to slow us down," he said to Jack through the dead next to him. "Are we watching the other side for escapees?"

"No one has come out the other side," it answered, "I would know. They are all inside. No doors have opened."

"This feels like a trap," Antwon stated, coldly.

"That it does," Jack responded, "Hold up the living."

Antwon once again raised a fist into the air. A group of four dead ran full speed at the main doors of the field. Antwon could see nothing in the mist that surrounded their area. He could hear the dull thud as the corpses hit the doors and began to beat against them.

"They are not attacking," Jack stated, uncertainty touching his voice for the first time.

"Kyle Ward," every dead voice in the woods called out. It was deafening. As was the silence which followed.

Antwon expected screams, grumblings, worry or some answer. What he received was complete silence, like no one at all was inside the field. He looked at the corpse, who stared at nothing with a dull glare. Jack's mind was elsewhere. If Antwon were to guess, he would say Jack was rifling through the dead and looking for any sign he might have missed. Eventually, the corpse's head shook from side to side.

"There is no way they could have escaped," It said, "No sign of their leaving."

"Could they have all killed themselves?" Antwon asked the unthinkable. He also clearly didn't think to whom he was speaking.

"No," Jack answered, "there are no dead to rise. Unless they burned all of the corpses. Sit tight, this will take a few minutes."

Antwon gave the sign for the living to stand at ease. At the same moment, every risen ran full strength at the field. They beat on every gate, threw themselves at every door, and began to climb over one another to get into the football field. There was no response. No counter-attack, no defensive maneuvers, nothing. There was something very weird about this.

After a ten-minute wait, Antwon could see that the cloud cover was dissipating. He could just make out the bodies climbing over the top of the lowest gate. He saw the back of one corpse disappear as it jumped into the open space of the field.

"It can't be," Jack said, through his spokesman. "There is no one there. Ah, I think I know."

The corpse had an inadvertent smile, then every mouth opened once again to scare the defenders. "Cute, Kyle," the legion of the dead intoned, "Your invisibility power will only work for a few moments."

The remaining dead finally ripped the gate from its hinges and poured themselves into the arena. A gush of wind blew out the last fog from the area, and Antwon watched the horde sprint across the field like a pep squad greeting the team at the homecoming game. He knew what Jack was doing. Kyle could hide them from sight, but not from touch. Thousands of the dead covered every inch of the field and into the stands. There was no one there.

As the clouds finally fully cleared above them, Antwon saw their mistake. He reigned his horse backwards and turned, dropping into a full gallop into the woods. He had to put distance between the arena and himself. Unlike many of his friends, Antwon was not a natural leader. He didn't even think about the others in his company. His only thought was for himself. His men, seeing him flee, followed suit. It was only the dead standing in the arena as the Dragon dropped out of the sky and engulfed the stadium in a cone of solid flame. An angel swept around in a giant circle, fire leaping from his hands to box the corpses in and a female angel, with pitch black wings rose into the sky above them with her hands held wide. Wind blew from every angle toward the vortex she created at the center of the stadium. With it, a wall of fire enclosed around the army of the dead.

Antwon looked back over his shoulder at the blaze. These weren't all of Jack's risen, but it was most. It included almost every corpse which still had mystic powers. Jack's anger would burn as brightly as that fire behind him. The real fright which lit his own thoughts was what Jack would do to remedy this loss. He watched his men flee toward the Bluffs en masse. They would arrive within the day. He knew what would happen. Jack had made an uneasy alliance with the remnants of the Faith, who made up Antwon's company. Jack had never planned for them to live. When they reached the Bluffs, they would reach their doom. But, Antwon Shabazz would not be with them.

Once he was sure they were all heading in the right direction, Antwon turned his horse northward, and rode with all haste. He was no fool. Perhaps they would tell Jack Antwon had fallen in the burning. He didn't care. He would escape the wrath of the Necro mystic. Besides, he had always heard that Denver was a nice place to wait out the winter.

# CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

The last group just ahead of him, Britt sprinted through the dark tunnels he had helped clear only hours before. He kept looking back over his shoulder to see if any of the dead were following, but it was pointless. All that stared back at him was the faceless darkness. Far ahead in the tunnel, Kyle had placed a small gem of light to guide them. Thousands had moved through these tunnels, and as far as he could tell, Jack Collins was unaware.

Even in the late-night sky, it was considerably lighter outside than it was in the tunnel. When he reached the end, he closed the door quietly behind him and nodded to Emma. She closed her eyes and the vines around the doors began to grow. Within moments, the doors were hidden beneath a mass of brush. Jack would not be able to track them this way. She had done the same on the entrance side, to make it unclear where the community had gone, and which direction they had taken. As he knew it would, the tunnel had dropped them out at the bottom of a small incline which wound its way up to a pass used by the Academy, when he had been a student, to access the campgrounds around Rampart Range Reservoir.

He could see the angel leader, Artie, high in the branches of a pine. Passing beneath that tree, he gave a thumbs-up sign, and Artie went to work destroying the road on which the group had escaped. Emma, one of the few power-retainers known as the arch mystics, aided in covering their escape by making the approach impassable.

"Psst," a sound came out of the brush ahead. Someone was waving him toward them.

Kyle poked his head out and smiled. "Glad you could make it," he whispered.

Britt ducked into the brush which was a dense cover created only today by Emma to cover the long line of refugees escaping the Academy for the mountains. It was so effective that Britt had passed the entrance without noticing it. He rounded up the last group and slipped into the brush path. Shortly after, Emma came in too, and they departed for higher ground.

"It is taken care of?" Kyle asked, his voice barely audible.

"It is," Emma replied, "They won't be able to follow us by that road. Artie was amazing. He is much more powerful than Jessica was, he turned that side of the mountain into a cliff through his push."

The mention of Jessica made Britt sad. He had no idea how she was, or where she was. She had left for a long trip the year before to try to find her family in Nebraska. It would have taken weeks to get there, and they never heard from her again. In his mind, he imagined her happily sipping tea with her grandmother on her family's farm. He had a special place in his heart for Jessica. She had loved Kyle so much, that she had been the first to support his coming out and his relationship with Britt.

"What about Artie?" he asked, trying to keep his mind off his dear friend.

"He flew off," she answered, "It is really amazing the way they fly. They very much look like one would think of an angel from the stories."

"Yes," Kyle stated, from out of the darkness, "they are beautiful."

It took hours to get to their destination, over the range and beginning the path down toward the reservoir. They had not decided what to do once they got there, but more distance than this was probably required. He knew Kyle would want intel, which he had sent Cliff high over the Bluffs to obtain. It would be a long night, and he would probably not get good rest in the morning. But, so far, their plan had worked very well. For that he was grateful.

# CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

Gavin Green was not just a part of the A group, not just an angel. He was a light empath, and though his abilities paled in comparison to those of a powerful arch mystic like Kyle Ward, he had been able to harness the power he did have to do some similar things. As Cliff circled high in the night clouds, Gavin had covered himself in a light bubble, making him invisible to all eyes around. From his vantage point, though, Cliff could assume exactly where the man would be. He would perch atop their old chapel in the center of the Bluffs.

Peering through the night sky, whenever he had a chance, Cliff could see large groups of people moving across the town center. He and Gavin had followed the living as they had returned to their master, Jack Collins. Kyle had always said Jack would take the Bluffs, and the Hillside, and he was right. Both of those places were controlled by Jack's army of the dead now.

He saw all of the people move in unison and turn toward the chapel, and he knew that Gavin had been discovered. As planned, he flew low enough to be seen, but not low enough to be struck by an arrow and screeched loudly across the sky. For added effect, he breathed some fireballs into the air.

It worked. In a short time, Gavin appeared out of thin air right next to him, flying in the same pattern.

"Thanks," Gavin offered, "I gasped when he killed them and gave myself away. I will have to work on that."

"He killed them?" Cliff queried through the stone which hung around his neck.

"He did," Gavin answered, "I wasn't expecting it. All of the living who came this way. They all walked into that courtyard there and were met by a few of the undead. Collins spoke to them from one of the mouths. I saw another hundred or so undead gathering behind buildings. The living army didn't even see them. Then Collins said, 'you failed me.' The dead came out and destroyed the living. It was absolutely brutal. As soon as I gasped, they all looked right at me, even the ones who had just died. If you had not distracted them, I would have been a goner. Thanks, man."

"Anytime," Cliff replied, "You weren't hit though?"

"No," he responded, "I would have been, even with your help, but I flew evasive maneuvers right off the jump. I got away."

As they continued their circle, Cliff saw the dead had disappeared. "They are gone," he mentioned, looking down.

Gavin nodded, "They are probably in hiding from a presumed attack by a fire-breathing dragon."

Gavin smiled at him. Cliff had immediately liked Gavin. The boy was older than he was, but hidden behind his cool exterior and popular looks, was a nerd. He was just like Cliff. Gavin never seemed to get tired of flying, spending more time soaring than actually flapping his wings, but Cliff needed rest. He turned for a trip to his lair. He needed to collect some things before he joined the others up at the reservoir.

"I am going to stay here for a bit and see if there is any movement," Gavin called out.

"Be safe, my friend," Cliff answered, "Don't fly close enough to get hit by an arrow."

"Sounds like a good idea," the angel replied, laughing.

Cliff let his wings carry him as much as he could toward his home. This would be the last time he saw it for a while. As dawn broke, he flew over the old resort and saw the corpses standing guard. Cliff had been through all of that area and knew there was nothing to protect. He wondered if Jack knew something he didn't, or was he just making an appearance? Was this a decoy for Cliff's benefit?

As he approached his lair, he smelled the death. There were corpses about, of that he was sure.

"Jack?" he bellowed through the gem, then screeched into the wind to get a response. A dead man walked out of his lair. There were more there, Cliff could smell them. But he wasn't afraid. He landed in front of his lair, searching around for how the dead got up there.

"Hello, my young friend," Jack croaked through the dead man's throat. "You did a number on my army at the Academy."

Cliff snorted steam through his nose, "You deserved it, Jack. We were family once. How could you do this?"

"We were family, that is true," Jack answered, "I was cast out. Calvin Ward caused this. Don't you see? I have to protect myself."

"You killed Kelly and so many others," Cliff retorted.

"Cliff, please," the corpse replied, "This is all collateral damage. You know that. I want peace. I want reconciliation. What does it say that you are harboring Eric Fine?"

"You stayed with him," Cliff continued, "we know all about that. We know what you did, Jack. You are the conqueror now. You are the adversary. You are the bad guy."

The dead man stood silently for a moment. "So that is your answer?" he queried. "That is your response to the one who helped you through your transition? You are just like the rest of them, you have chosen to cast me out as well? You could have been my friend, Cliff Ko. I see now that the council will never accept me. You could have been my right hand. We could have ruled together."

As the man finished, Cliff saw the movement out of the corner of his eye. The dead who had buried themselves in the rubbish around the lair sprang into action. Cliff responded quickly, breathing fire across the whole opening of his lair and into its crevices. In moments, all that remained of the dead were their burnt corpses. But, Cliff felt the pain immediately. He also saw the twinkle of a gem in the end of the bolt which had pierced his lower hind leg. He reached down to tear it out with his teeth but faltered. Something was wrong, Cliff passed out on the hard concrete that had once been Dr. Emma Pare's garden at the mountain. He felt the itching of his skin as he faded out, but it wasn't the time for molting.

# CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Gavin soared high over the Bluffs, watching the dead. They did not move, just standing in place wherever they might be. They were strategically placed to relay intelligence to Jack Collins, that much was clear. But, Collins' mind must be elsewhere. The dead just stood.

He could tell, even from the height at which he flew, that some of the unmoving corpses stared directly into the air. Jack was keeping tabs on him, but was for the moment undisturbed by the angel flying high. Gavin never saw Collins himself, just the dead. After all of the living had been slaughtered to refill the army, the Bluffs had gone quiet.

It had been half the day and he had seen no sign of Cliff. The rest of the people must be all the way to their destination at the reservoir, but his dragon friend had not returned. As the sun grew to mid-sky, he saw two other angels approaching from the west. One was definitely Izzy, her raven wings presenting a very distinctive difference between herself and the others. The other was Perk, he realized as they drew closer.

Once in earshot, Perk called out, "Why are you still here?" Izzy said nothing, her sullen look saying all that needed saying.

"Waiting for Cliff to return," he replied as they drew close and flew beside him, "He went to his lair to collect some items for the journey at around dawn. He really should have been back hours ago. I am hesitant to leave anyone behind."

"Did he ask you to wait?" Perk queried.

Gavin shook his head, "No."

After a short glance at the two of them, Izzy offered, "I will keep an eye here. Go get him. We need to leave before anyone decides to wait for us."

Gavin nodded and flew off, with Perkins right by his side. It wasn't a long trip. It would have taken all day by foot, but it took less than an hour in the air. He loved flying, just for the joy of it. But, he also realized the convenience of traveling in a much faster fashion than others had to suffer through.

As they approached the mouth of Cliff's lair, Gavin could tell something was wrong. It wasn't just the burnt corpses all across the platform, it was the huge pile of molted dragon skin which sat in the middle of the area. He looked once at his friend, saw the nod and swooped in to investigate.

# CHAPTER FIFTY

Cliff finally woke up. He wasn't sure if he had passed out because of the pain, or if there was some poison on the missile which had gone through his foreleg. Once again, he reached with his teeth, bringing his arm up to his mouth. He stopped in stunned silence. His arm? Looking down, he had an arm again. Rather than a foreleg, Cliff had an arm. It was so dark green, it was almost black. He moved his hand in front of his eyes. There was small webbing between the fingers and the skin was lighter on the inside of his hand than on the outside. He had claws at the end of each finger, which were long and clearly sharp. He was surrounded in his own molt and needed to tear it away.

The bolt in his forearm went all the way through, and he knew this would hurt, but he grabbed it with his other hand and drew it all the way through to remove it from his flesh. If he expected to immediately return to full dragon form, he was disappointed. His form remained the same. And pulling the bolt from his flesh didn't hurt at all. On top of that, the wound immediately closed up after he had removed the projectile.

Using the claws on his hands, he tore away the molt and looked at the rest of his body. He had returned mostly to a man form, though his skin was so dark, it was almost black. It shone in the light, and reminded him of a car color he had once seen. It looked black, but as the sun hit the paint, one could see the green hue in the reflection. Cliff's skin was now like that.

One of the most startling parts of this transformation was that he had no sex organs. He looked down between his legs and there was nothing there. There was no discernible gender, but his muscles were large and well-defined.

"Well, isn't that great," he snarled. However, this didn't come out of the gem, but out of his mouth. He reached up and felt his mouth, his jagged teeth and the ridges on his forehead. It seemed like he was only half returned to his man-form.

Looking down, he saw his huge dragon wings broken off and sitting next to his molt. Could he no longer fly? He stretched the muscles where his wings had been and large bat-like wings spread out. They were not like his other wings. These he could completely collapse against his body to be almost un-noticeable. They were super thin and malleable, unlike either his former wings or those of the angel group.

He looked down at his legs again. They were stocky and very muscular, but it was the feet which caught his eye. They were more similar to hands, or to ape feet, but they had the same claws. He flexed them and reached out and grabbed a nearby stone with one of them and threw it. He would have to learn to use those, but that was awesome!

He let out a guttural laugh. It sounded evil and full of malice, Cliff could tell that just by hearing it. He needed to see what he really looked like. Remembering that inside the lair, there had been a former restroom, he moved into the mouth of his lair and past the burnt bodies of the undead Jack had sent. He vaguely remembered a mirror, or a piece of one which remained after his tearing open the mouth of the lair.

He reached for a nearby light stone he had stashed, but as he picked it up, his skin swallowed it. It just disappeared into his own flesh. Looking to his left hand, he saw the stone imbedded in his palm. Calling his power into the item, he shed light around the room.

A nasty chortle escaped his lips. This was amazing. He could now take gems into his skin and not just read them, but use them? He had dozens of gems around the lair. Could he do that with all of them? That would be awesome! He ran back to the former restroom. He was amazed and how nimble, agile and strong he felt. His speed was dizzying, but his reaction time was even better.

Entering the ruins of this former restroom, he lit up the room by the palm of his hand. What he saw shocked him. If people had been frightened by his dragon form, they were in for a real scare now. He still had reptilian features, most notably the ridges on his brow. But that wasn't the shocker. His razor-sharp teeth and near black skin showed a different countenance. Staring back at Cliff Ko from this mirror was what could best be described as a demon. He looked malevolent. His voice sounded evil. This was going to be hard for people to accept.

He dropped his head, breathing out in anger. Steam shot up before his eyes.

"No way," Cliff exhaled in joyful surprise as he made the realization. He opened his mouth and a jet of fire streamed out, lighting one wall before he stopped himself.

Something had lit up, other than the fire, when he had been speaking. It did not strike him until then, but the gem from his "speaking" collar was imbedded in his throat. He wasn't sure what that could do, but he had some ideas. Cliff was an item empath. But now, every gem he touched melded into his skin and gave him its powers.

He heard the sound of wings and smelled the angels. Smelled them? His sense of smell was stunning; he could even tell which ones were out there. He smelled their fear as well. Heading quickly to the very back of the lair, he gathered the stones he kept there and immediately absorbed them.

"Cliff," Gavin's voice echoed through the lair, "You back there?"

"I am here," he said, as he moved before them with such speed that Perk actually jumped.

"Cliff?" Gavin asked, almost reaching out with his hand to touch the new being. "What happened?"

Cliff nodded, walking over to the bolt laying on the ground, he reached for it, "This happened. Jack Collins..."

At that moment, the history of the item revealed itself to him. He saw a scene before him:

Annie Grace was receiving the stone from Cliff himself.

A shift in time as the item's history moved forward. She took this stone and another and made two objects, a brush out of Phineas' tail hair and a wand made from one of Izzy's feathers.

A shift again, as Annie is being captured by the Faith and drops it. A young woman picks it up.

Another shift and the gem is given to Kim Pile. Another shift as Jack pulls the brush out of the bag from a burned corpse in a large cavern. Jack rips the stone from the brush.

One last shift as Jack attaches the gem to the bolt. Jack doesn't know what that gem can do.

Cliff closed his hand around the gem and absorbed it into his flesh.

"What is it, buddy?" Gavin asked.

"We need to get to the council," Cliff answered. Spreading his wings, he leapt high into the air and sped off. The angels did what they could to keep up with him.

# CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

"What can we do?" Kyle asked Adam.

"I don't know," the healer replied. "I am doing the best I can, but we have very little medicine, even if we could make it still work. Without powered healers, we are going to lose people. We have only a few healing stones, and the power needs to be regenerated. Gwen can only do so much in helping us."

"How many?" Kyle queried.

"Two dozen maybe with urgent injuries," Adam assessed, "Another fifty with simple injuries. You are moving thousands of people over rough terrain, Kyle. This is going to happen. The former healers know enough about the human body to aid this, but without power..."

"And my grandmother?" the council leader asked.

"She is not in good shape," Adam responded, "She not only broke the ankle, but it is swelling beyond our ability to aid her."

"I will go see her," Kyle stated.

"No, she doesn't want you to," Adam answered. "She knows there isn't anything you can do, and there are many people who need you right now. Ted and Kayla are with her. They will let you know as soon as she needs you."

Kyle just nodded, and Adam moved off to help others and make other horrible notifications. Kyle felt powerless. Britt stood nearby with their son in his arms, playing a game with the boy. Natalee also stood near him.

"How can I help all of these people?" he asked into the air.

"You can't," Nat replied. "You just need to be strong for everyone."

"How are you able to stay so strong?" Kyle asked, "First Mom, then Dad missing, and now grandma is getting worse? How do you do it, Nat?"

His sister just stared off in the direction they had come. "What choice do I have?" she asked.

They had gathered the night before, thousands of people in some old campgrounds meant for hundreds. They weren't far enough away from Jack to protect them. Once these people died, they would have to be removed from sight and burned. Otherwise Jack could access their corpses and find out where the group was. It was a hopeless task. Kyle kneeled in the dirt and rubbed his temples.

He felt Britt's hand on his shoulder. "You are doing fine," his husband said with a squeeze.

Kyle hated that their nuptials had to be in private, and on the fly. But, he hadn't wanted to put it off any longer. He reached up and took Britt's hand.

"Here come the Angels, but I don't see Cliff," Nat stated. There was a long pause, before she followed with, "What the fuck is that?"

Nat ran off to a clearing which the flying people were landing at, and Kyle immediately saw what she was talking about. There was a black, winged creature with them which looked as much like a demon as the others looked like angels. As he drew close, Nat turned to him.

"Get Kin," she whispered. Kyle nodded. He couldn't be certain, but this had something to do with Cliff.

Kyle called for the council, as well as Kin Ko. When Kin arrived, he was in a relatively good mood. He had always been more in favor of nomadic existence than the rest of them were. Natalee walked over and got close to him.

"Kin," Nat began, "How are you doing?"

"Fine," Kin chuckled, "What is with the concern?"

"Something happened to Cliff on this mission," she answered, and his smile dropped. "He is okay..."

"Where is he?" Kin queried, cautiously.

"I am right here," came a guttural voice from the landing area.

Kyle looked up, it was the demon talking. It was shocking to say the least. The dragon was gone, and Cliff had changed into yet another terrifying creature. Kyle was overwhelmed with guilt about the boy's experience. But, Kin took one look at his brother and burst out laughing. Everyone else was shocked into silence, but Kin Ko was giddy as a schoolgirl.

"What did you do now?" he asked and ran up, wrapping his little brother in a huge embrace.

"I got shot," Cliff answered.

"Of course, you did, you little nerd," Kin replied, turning toward Nat, "I can wrap my arms around my kid brother again. What more could I ask for?"

It was nice to see this reunion, as their first reunion with Cliff as a dragon had resulted in Kin trying to kill him. The reunion was cut a little short as they had to discuss the situation. Cliff told them all what he knew of himself, and that Jack had misused a gem.

"How did he misuse it?" Nat asked.

"I can see the history of an item, much like Jenny could before all of this. I can't know what he was thinking, but my guess is that he thought it would reverse the change. He used it to hurt me. It had no such effect. Instead it cemented and strengthened the genetic alterations which had already happened with the plague. I am, in fact, better than I was before."

"Did you bring the bolt?" Jenny asked.

"Sort of," Cliff smiled, and it was even more frightening than when he had smiled as a dragon. His sharp teeth bared, and his face took on a menacing look, "My flesh absorbed the gem. It is here in my wrist."

"So," Britt asked, quieting his noisy toddler, "can we use its ability now?"

Cliff thought for a moment, then answered, "No, unfortunately not. This one was in my flesh for too long, but I can use it. I can do what any of the gems can do. I will have to study all of its effects before I am willing to use it on anyone else. The other one is different though, the one she put in the angel wand."

"You saw it? How is it different?" Izzy asked. She had a noticeable interest in the wand made from her feathers.

Cliff shook his head, "I can't be sure. But, she definitely did something different with that one. I will need to look at it to get any ideas."

"But, where is it?" Adam questioned.

Again, Cliff was at a loss, "I don't know that either. All I can read is this stone's history. There is a small glimpse through a tent flap. She put it in the hand of a tattooed man, full sleeve, red hair."

There was silence. Max spoke from the back. Kyle had not even realized she was there. "Cliff, is it possible it was Brandon Gains?"

"Who is that?" Cliff asked.

"The entertainers who came through last year, maybe longer ago. Mickey, Brandon, and Theo? They had been from the Renaissance Faire," She clarified.

"I don't think I met them," Cliff answered. "But if he was a tall man, with a large red beard, then it could be."

Kyle thought back, then spoke up, "They went with Eric and I to meet with the Grand Master in Woodland Park. Mickey said he needed to find his family and left west from the town."

Nat shook her head, "They weren't there when we were there."

"No," Kyle stated, "They moved on shortly after we left." He remembered the men fondly. They were kind, helpful, and always good for a laugh. "We will have to go after them."

There was wide agreement about this point, but disagreement about who would actually go. Everyone thought they themselves should make the journey, while everyone they cared about should get to safety. Anyone who thinks leading a group of heroes is easier than leading others is insane. Leading heroes is like herding cats. Eventually, Kyle convinced them all that the best choice would be Nat, Cliff, and Izzy. This would give him speed, strength, and validity of purpose. The best choice would have been his father, but no one knew where the Hermit had gone off to. The Angel Leader, Artie, had agreed to take everyone up to their home, what they called "the nest". It was at the top of Pike's Peak, and the angels had systematically destroyed any access from below to those without wings over the last year or so. Gwen was currently laboring to deliver the first angel born into the world. Once she had given birth, they would begin the task. This would provide safety from Jack's forces while those with power fought back.

The two biggest questions they could not answer were about two young arch mystics in their midst, his son Cooper, and the Cross girl, Rose. Both were certainly powerful. But Rose was different. Max could only see a glowing ball when she looked at the infant through her pack's eyes. When Cliff returned, he might study her, but what he could do in the meantime? He had no idea.

The last bit of business was a difficult one. The Council had to decide what to do with Eric Fine. The man was nearby, and Kyle was certain he was listening.

"You know my thoughts," Nat said, not caring that Eric was just outside.

"Yes, I do, and I understand them," Kyle said, "Eric fostered Jack for a year. He let him get more powerful, more dangerous. But something is changed, I don't know how to identify it."

From outside the tent, Eric said, "Maybe if you ask the man himself, that would help."

Kyle nodded, and the people brought Eric in. "Say your piece, Fisher King," Kyle said.

"It is just Eric," he answered, "I have been a fool. I didn't know about Jack, okay? Well, I knew he was running from you, but I didn't know what he was doing." No one said anything, so he continued, "Okay, I knew that he was raising the dead, but I didn't know he was raising them to fight. That much is true."

Still no one said anything. Kyle watched Eric's wheels turn. The man who had never struggled was struggling.

Eric kept going, "I began to have a new perspective. I know how hard it is to believe, but I don't want titles anymore. I just want to be left alone. All of those under my command are dead. For a bit, I thought I would get my just punishment. But, you all are never going to execute me. Jack can't now, and I am grateful, because I don't want to be his mouthpiece. Do you know what he planned? He was going to kill me in front of you and raise me to show his power. Had it not been for Kyle and the demon boy here, I would be a puppet at best and ash at worst. I am done. I have no people, no kingdom, no company, no powers. Do with me what you will."

Kyle looked him over once more and looked around the tent. There was no animosity for Eric there. Nat's words earlier did not convey how she felt. Most people probably thought she meant a certain hatred, but they had talked about it only a few days ago. His sister was shocked by her own ambivalence about Eric. He had helped when they needed it, his entire world had been destroyed by Jack, and he was at their mercy. She simply didn't have any animosity for him, even though he had been the bogeyman of their past.

"Untie him," Kyle ordered. Turning toward Eric, he said, "You can be one of us. Just a common person, here for the common good. Is that something you are comfortable with?"

Eric's look of thanks was not something Kyle expected. He answered, "I am grateful for your trust. I will earn it."

Kyle nodded, and Eric left the tent. There were still those int eh community who had lost loved ones at the hands of Eric's men, and he would have to reconcile that. But for now, he was free to roam about.

"You all better get going," he motioned to the three who were being sent on a mission.

Nat nodded. "Shit," she said.

"What?" Kyle asked.

"I can't very well ride on Cliff's back any more," she answered.

Cliff's evil grin was followed with, "I guess we get to see how fast and how long you can run!"

She smiled back. In all of the stress and pain of this attack and retreat they had just experienced, there was still camaraderie. There was still laughter. There was still love. Kyle would hold on to that thought. It might come in handy.

# CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

She had already said her goodbyes and didn't want to prolong the departure. She had spent the better part of the last day hanging out with her old High School friends, the A group as they were known then, or the Angels as they were now known. She had spent a little time with Artie and Gwen's baby, Tristan, with his un-feathered wings and screech-crying that sounded both aviary and human at the same time. Naming the baby after their sick friend was a nice gesture but had set Izzy into a fit of uncontrollable crying. The fact that Izzy was willing to go on this mission was in itself a huge deal.

No matter how many times the group had tried to include her, Nat had not wanted to intrude. Years ago, these were her closest friends. But, she hadn't seen them for more than three years. When they finally showed up at the Bluffs, they had her replacement in Izzy. Isabel Sanchez had never been a part of their friends group. But since the Event, that group had become a family. Natalee Ward was not a part of that family, so she waited in a clearing for their departure as Izzy said goodbye to Tristan. He seemed to be weakening by the day.

As the dawn turned to day, her cousin Max came out of a nearby wooded area, walking straight for her. She ran up and gave Max a hug. The girl was fourteen now, and looked like any teen girl. But, her eyes showed a calm which was almost off-putting. She had been gone for a year, and Nat's only interaction with her was through a mental link Max had with a male werewolf.

Max smiled, "I had hoped we would get to hang out on this trip. I miss you."

"I miss you, too, kid," Nat answered, hugging her even tighter. "Hopefully I won't be gone long."

Max looked off across the lake, that calmness sweeping over her features. "Everything takes a long time now. What happened to you when Jack triggered the change?"

Nat was taken aback by the sudden change of subject, but she replied, "I got stronger, faster, and more agile I guess. I think he knew it would change, but something tells me he didn't know he was strengthening all of us."

"He did," Max replied, "I saw it when I was in his head. He thinks he is doing the right thing by separating the archmystics from everyone else. He thinks he is a better ruler than the council. He is afraid."

"Good," Nat nodded, "He should be."

"He isn't afraid of us, Nat," Max answered, "He is afraid of himself. He thinks your Dad threw him out unfairly and has seen his interest turn to these dark things because he doesn't want to be alone. He is trying to make his way back."

"You got all of this from one glimpse into his head?" Nat asked her.

Max nodded, "He doesn't understand his power or himself. If he had Cliff's desire for knowledge, or Jenny's introspection, his power would be immense indeed. But, he serves only himself. His motives are clear, so his actions are obvious. The trigger affected him too, that is why he used it. Everyone thinks it is because he wanted to take everyone else's powers away. That was a side effect. It isn't the reason. He wanted to show the other powerful mystics that he was just as good as them. He wanted us to know."

Nat didn't really have anything to say to that. It was certainly interesting but changed nothing. Knowing Jack's thoughts might be useful, but it didn't change the fact that she would kill him if ever given the chance.

"He is in love with you, you know," Max stated, and suddenly Nat knew why she was sharing all of this.

"You don't actually want me to be with him, do you?" Nat was flabbergasted by the idea.

Max laughed suddenly and loudly, "No. Sorry, that was a funny idea. In his mind, he obsesses over you. Someday, he will come for you. You will have to play your cards right, because you will be the one who gets close, the one who can end this."

Once again, Nat didn't know what to say, so she changed the subject. "What happened to you when he triggered the change?"

"Peace. I gained control of my emotions, and my abilities. I was suddenly able to dissipate my emotions, those that resulted in your Mom's death, so they would not overtake everyone. Now they have the effect of the full moon, rather than driving people mad. I am actually grateful for the trigger, but it won't stop me from unleashing my pack on him if I get the chance." Max was more mature than Nat had ever seen her, and far beyond the maturity of a fourteen-year-old girl.

"You borrow their maturity, their experiences," Nat said, rather matter-of-factly.

Max smiled at her, "You always were the smart one. Everyone always talks about your beauty, but I used to hear your Dad talk about you. He talked about your brain. He is impressed by you."

It was a wonderful thing to say. They had one last hug, and Max moved off into the woods again just as the A Group arrived. Izzy flew in, sullen and wiping tears away. But, she wasn't crying so hard now, and was clearly ready to go on this journey, if only to distract her. Gavin, Lance, and Mara smiled broadly when they came up to her, but she could see the sadness behind those smiles. Nat had mourned all of her friends years ago, assuming they had died around the time of the Event, as so many had. They were different people now. Perhaps she had lost all of them all those years ago.

Cliff flew in and landed right next to her. "Hi Natalee," he greeted her, "Ready for a fly? I can carry you."

"Absolutely," she answered, "But I want to try something. Fly up about twenty feet without me."

"Okay," Cliff said and leapt into the air, his great bat wings spreading out behind him. The A group responded to the sudden movement like seagulls on a beach. They all jumped into the air, spreading their wings and floating above the ground.

Nat lurched into a full sprint and jumped. Her added abilities made her go way higher than twenty feet, she may have gone double that. As her body weight started to cause her to fall, she spread her arms directly out to the side. She didn't need to look back, Cliff flew up behind her and snatched her out of the air, holding her close.

"Okay," he said, grinning ear to ear, "That is the best way to pick someone up ever."

They laughed together, and even Izzy joined in as she caught up. They would keep working to find the angel wand, town to town. She was glad to be looking for this and thrilled to be with peers of similar ability. She didn't have to be Natalee Ward, leader and member of the main family. She was just Nat, a comrade in arms and purpose. Looking down, she saw the huge throng of people camping around the reservoir. If she were honest with herself, she was thrilled to be away from that as well.

# CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

Ted watched from a distance as his nephew and Britt said their goodbyes. How many times in his military service had he watched married couples say goodbye before a deployment? These two men were used to the drill. Kyle had grown up with a regularly deployed military father, and Britt had gone to the Air Force Academy. Their love looked like every other love when one soldier was deploying, and there was no mistake. Kyle Ward was deploying. Britt was going with survivors to the Nest at the top of Pike's Peak.

After a short while, he approached and cleared his throat. Kyle turned toward him, "Uncle Ted, take care of my family."

"Of course, Kyle," Ted answered, giving his nephew a hug. "You know which direction you are headed?"

Kyle nodded, "West and south. We will circle the area and come at him from a different side." He smiled to set Britt at ease, but it wasn't necessary. Britt was a strong man of a strong will. He loved Kyle, but he knew his job now was to care for their son and this community.

"Which direction are you headed?" Kyle asked.

"We will go north, at least until we are completely out of Jack's range, then double back and approach from the forest. Remember, if you see the dead, Jack saw you. Burn every single corpse."

Kyle nodded, "What about grandma?"

Kyle kicked the dirt. Ted knew that neither he, nor Nat, had wanted to leave while their grandmother had been on death's door. But, there was no way around it. Beth was holding on. It had been two days since Nat had left, and they could not wait any longer. Any delay gave Jack the ability to raise more dead to combat them. Ted didn't say it, but he knew Beth would let go as soon as she knew the children were on their way. She was holding a tight grip on life until she was sure they had gone. She hadn't woken up that morning yet.

"Phineas is on his way," Britt smiled and waved over his husband's shoulder as the sound of hooves galloping in their direction rent the air.

At the same time, Kyle saw Perk and Lance approaching to take his family to the safety of the peak.

"Damn you're fast, Perkins," the centaur called, "I should have chosen to be a Pegasus Centaur!"

Perk's laugh was delightful. The angels had such a natural good humor and light-heartedness. If one did not know better, they would think the A group had no cares in the world. But in reality, they were kind, and joyful, and took all of this world and its dangers in stride.

"Kyle," Phineas continued, "I have put together a saddle for you to use on my back. It should be a more comfortable ride than our last."

"Thank you, kind sir," Kyle replied, and pulled himself onto the horse part of Phineas. "You have said your goodbyes?"

Phineas nodded, and answered, "Yep."

"Then off we go!" Kyle replied.

Phineas neighed and kicked off in a dead sprint down the road.

"Silly nag!" Britt called after him, as Perk spread his wings out, carrying Kyle's husband and son to safety.

Ted watched them go, noticing how very little time it took Perk to rise up and speed ahead. In moments, he could not see them any longer. Lance walked next to him.

"You can fly if you want," Ted offered, "I know it must be boring to walk with us land-walkers.

Lance laughed a hearty laugh, "No, I will walk with you, at least until we get to the others. A werewolf approaches, your daughter is waiting I think."

Ted looked up to see the half-man, half-wolf sprinting across the field toward them. He wasn't in a hurry, this was just how the creatures went from place to place.

"I can't wait," Ted answered, and it was true. He missed his little girl so much over the last year.

Lance turned toward him, a question forming on his face before he blurted it out, "How does it feel to be in charge again?"

"I never liked anything above squad leadership," Ted responded, "In all the time since the Event, it never got easier. I can't tell you how happy I was that Kyle took over. This will be more like squad leadership. A dozen of us achieving a goal that seems impossible to most. Sound like fun?"

Lance nodded his agreement, "I feel similarly. Artie and I were co-captains of so many teams at school. Since the Event, I have taken his lead. He is a great leader."

"Where is your friend today?" Ted asked.

"With your mother-in-law," he answered, "He and Gwen are doing their best to keep her calm and well. Gwen is infusing her with energy as often as she can. She is splitting her time between Beth and Tristan. I hope he will be okay," Lance looked down and tears welled in his eyes, "He is such a good friend, Ted."

Ted knew the love that a battle-hardened friendship provided. He knew better than most. He thought of how he had been devastated when he thought Cal Ward dead. The young man may not know it, but he was speaking to someone who was deeply acquainted with the feelings he was now expressing.

As they neared the werewolf, Ted could see the tears falling down his cheeks.

"Daddy," the were cried, and he knew he was listening to the sound of his daughter's grief. Ted knew instantly that Beth was gone. He walked up and held the werewolf as quiet sobs escaped his throat.

"I am so sorry, honey," he said.

When he pulled away a moment later, the expression had changed. Her peacefulness had returned. "She is gone to the heaven she always talked about. Don't be sad, Daddy. It is a wonderful day, and we should celebrate her life, which was much longer than her death."

Ted nodded, feeling his own tears well up, both for the loss of his daughter's innocence and the loss of his mother-in-law. Maxine was fine, but he needed the comfort too. Beth Merritt had been there since his own mother had passed, always supportive, never complaining. She had helped with raising his children, watched over his family while he was deployed, and opened her heart to him for most of his adult life. She would be gravely missed. He wished he was there to comfort his wife right now.

# CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Fearing the clip-clop of his hooves, Kyle had once again hidden Phineas in a ball of light and moved off on his own. The centaur argued against this every time, but always had to give in to Kyle's reasoning. Kyle needed to move quietly when they were scouting a new area, and Phineas was many things, but none of them was quiet.

Creeping methodically through what had once been the richest part of town, and then had been the compound at which Eric Fine had exerted dominance, brought to his mind how much had changed in the last four years. These great estates had burned to the ground and nature had re-exerted its eminence over the area. Trees and grasses grew from the ashes. A small snap indicated that he had not been careful of where he had stepped.

Kyle saw the eyes snap open in the corner, its pale center searching the area. What he had not expected was the sound of rustling behind him. He slowly turned to see five more corpses move about, searching everywhere for any change, any sign of passing. Kyle had Jack's attention and Jack knew he was there.

"My old friend, Kyle," all five corpses rasped at once, "It has to be you, unless another light empath of considerable ability has entered my domain."

From his hidden light bubble, Kyle replied, "Your domain, Jack? Who talks like that?"

He moved quickly, but with stealth, as Jack's puppets searched the area he had just been in.

"Truce, Kyle," the corpses intoned, "Let's talk. Or perhaps," they all went still, "I will speak with your uncle instead."

Without another word, the corpses all fell to the ground. It could be a trap, but on the other hand, it could be a nightmare unfolding. What did he mean, talk to his uncle? Could Ted be in his sights right now?

Kyle dropped his light shield to bring Jack's attention back. It had no effect. The corpses just lay there, unmoving. Keeping his eyes peeled for any more of the dead, Kyle sprinted back to where he had left Phineas and dropped the centaur's visual shield as well.

"What is it?" Phineas bristled, pacing back and forth.

"It was Jack. He was taunting me, but something is wrong."

Kyle climbed into the saddle affixed to Phineas' back and they broke into a full gallop, heading north.

# CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

Ted watched Lance circle over head. The angel pointed to a tree line in front of them and made a hand gesture that Ted didn't understand.

"What do you think that means?" Ted asked his daughter.

Max walked alongside her dad, in quiet contemplation. It was good to have her back after a solid year without much contact, and even that contact was through the rough speech of a werewolf. However, his little girl was gone. Maxine Craven was quiet, thoughtful, and unbelievably wise. She was no longer the innocent little girl. She had quite literally grown up overnight, at least emotionally. Now, she was something different. She looked up at the sky, then out at the tree line.

She shrugged, "I don't know. He might be talking about the dead."

She pointed ahead without concern, as Ted's defensive nature came to the fore, though he no longer had the abilities to match. Out of the woods, dozens of arrows flew at them. Ted moved like a cat, spinning, and dodging, knocking the arrows out of the sky with ease. The focus and fighting stones in his staff were still enough to improve his dexterity and prowess, even without the power he was now missing. Max had not even moved, waiting out her father's protection without the slightest fear of mistake. He looked up to see hundreds of corpses, all newly minted it seemed, move out from the forest in a straight line. Five of them walked slowly, a white flag proceeding them, stuck in the shoulder of one of the corpses. It would have been comical, were the situation not so tense.

"Wait for them, Daddy," Max said, "they are not a threat."

He didn't have the time to question her about this, as the dead were covering ground very quickly.

"A white flag following an attack? Which should I believe, Jack?"

All five corpses spoke as one, "I sent the arrows as a message of strength. I knew you would knock them all clear from the sky. I know what so few others know. You still have some powers."

Ted was stunned that Jack would know this. How could he know?

"One voice, Jack," Max said.

All five corpses and her father looked at her, questioning.

"One voice, not all voices," she said, as though it were the most obvious thing, "Speak through one and people will listen. It is too confusing, and through many voices you lose...inflection."

He didn't even know that his daughter knew the word. She was drawing it from some other, some memory or mind. He watched her nod to herself. Jack spoke from only one of the corpses after that.

"As I was saying," the center corpse spoke, "I knew you had abilities, and I wanted to ask how. The last time I tried to take Maxine..."

It was all he got out. Without thinking about it, Ted acted instinctively, thrusting a fist up and through the flesh and bone of the thing's skull. The violation about which Jack was speaking was not going to be spoken about. Clearly seeing this, Lance acted in the manner one would normally act when the fight signal was given. He flew over the heads of the standing dead and lit them up with fire from his hands. At the same time, to protect himself and his girl, Ted quickly destroyed the remaining four corpses before Lance lit them up, landing next to Ted and Max.

Max walked over to the charred corpses, "Why did you do that?"

"He said the last time, honey, meaning this was the next time," Ted answered.

"No. Jack knows better," she answered, "and that isn't true. I love you, but I don't need you to protect me. It was just a discussion, Daddy."

She walked off toward the east, shaking her head. Ted looked toward Lance, who shrugged and took off to flight again. Shaking his own head, Ted followed. He loved his little girl, but he wasn't sure he liked being scolded by her.

# CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

Even in the summer, the top of the peak could be pretty damn cold. At 14,114 feet above sea level, its summit had served for dozens of years as a place that every tourist to the area had to visit. Britt looked over to where a steady stream of visitors were stopping in to see their newest member, little Tristan. It was the other Tristan on which his thoughts now rested. The urgent request from one of the ex-healers, telling him that Adam needed him right away did not bode well. The easy guess was that the very ill and nearly comatose angel had taken a turn for the worse. He smiled at Artie, the proud father, as he waved at Britt.

A myriad of different responses swirled before him. It would hit the group hard, and even harder once Isabel returned, if Tristan passed. He pushed those thoughts out of his head. He would do what was required of a leader. He stepped into the medical tent, the entrance cloth flapping with the peak's high wind gusts.

"Great!" Adam Cross called out, "I have been waiting to tell you."

Britt finished securing the tent flap and turned, expecting frustration, but instead finding exuberance. Looking past their chief healer, he saw the dark-skinned angel sitting up on the pallet which had been his resting place for a couple of weeks.

"What the hell?" Britt pushed right past Adam and came to look at Tristan, who was eating voraciously from a bowl of oatmeal.

"Awesome," Tristan said, the first words to escape his mouth in all the time he had been with them, "Another guy to poke and prod me. Can one of you get my friends over here?"

Britt smiled and turned to Adam, "How?"

Adam's smile was easily as wide as his own, he said, "I healed him. I accessed my power with the stones."

For most of the last four years, Adam would not have been as excited about his abilities. Britt knew it had taken a toll on the man to be put back in the role of taking care of the wounded. But, this was new. The stones had given the ex-healers a small ability to aid those in discomfort, but not any real ability to heal.

"What changed?" he asked.

Adam turned and looked back to the small infant in a crib nearby. Rose Cross lay in the crib, cooing at her mother. Erica smiled in their direction.

"I think it was my baby girl," Adam replied. "Erica brought her by, so she could spend some time with me. As soon as she did, I could feel a difference. I was able to see what Jack had done to Tristan and to help his body fight it. This 'trigger' of Jack's is a blood-borne pathogen, and Tristan took a direct hit in the face. Though the demi-humans have had almost universal resistance to the disease, the shear amount of the virus invading his system was causing an overload. I was able to help his body deal with the attack, and suddenly he responded like a champ."

"We need Grandmaster Pike's stones," Britt told him.

Adam crunched his face up, confused, "He already knows his abilities, Britt."

"Jesus, Adam, not for him," he said and pointed.

Adam looked back to his daughter, "Oh. But we used the stones on her and they did nothing."

"Maybe we didn't use the stones properly," Britt answered, "I need to ask Eric Fine a question."

# CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

Natalee Ward balanced on the leaves of trees. She giggled to herself. This was just so cool. With everything that had gone wrong, she was still amazed at these abilities. She was sure her dad could do all of this, which made her think about him, and the giggle subsided.

Isabel Sanchez's wings, the color of night, fluttered behind her as she perched above the tree a few yards away. Her pale skin in stark contrast to the dark feathers was a beautiful sight. Nat imagined her with Tristan and a sad smile was all she could manage. Tristan had held a flame for this young woman for as long as Nat could remember. All of her friends used to tease him about it, Nat not the least of them. Tristan was also a beautiful man, so Nat's teasing was always tinged with a certain amount of envy and jealousy. She wished she could have been there when they finally became a couple.

"Here he comes," Izzy said.

The angels had amazing eyesight and could always see things much more clearly, from a much larger distance than any of the others. Nat searched in the direction Izzy pointed, finally catching a sight of a creature, darker even than Izzy's wings, darting among the trees with incredible speed. When he was close enough, Cliff sprang into the air, his bat wings spreading behind him before he flew up to where they were.

"I only see one of them," he began, "but he is chopping wood. It is a lot of wood. Honestly, it looks like he still has his powers."

"Hmm," Nat answered, "Perhaps it would be best if I went alone."

Izzy nodded, "Come on, Cliff. We will keep watch from up high."

Cliff flashed that good-natured but terrifying smile and leapt up as Izzy climbed through the skies. Nat nodded to herself when they were at least out of her sight, though she knew that Izzy would be able to see her clearly for miles. In a tiptoe ballet of leaping and dancing, she made her way across the tops of the trees. Cliff said that in Kung Fu this was known as leaf-walking. She found it delightful and an intensely fast way to get from point A to point B unseen. No one ever looks at the tops of trees it seems.

As she approached the cabin on which they had been spying, she dropped to the ground, rolling into a dead sprint. At the edge of the tree line, she stopped to take in the sight. In the middle of the clearing stood a log cabin, of new construction, but it could have been from any age. To one side of it stood the unusually tall man, shirtless, chopping wood. He had stacks and stacks of wood next to him, like he had been chopping everything from this clearing. His bright red hair hung down in a messy nest of waves and tangles until it met a beard which reached all the way down to his muscular chest. He had full sleeve tattoos on both arms which connected with another panel across his back. Brandon Gains looked even better half clothed than he had in his winter garb the last time Nat had seen him.

The large man stopped what he was doing and stretched his back, "Why don't you come out of the shadows and talk," he shouted.

Nat stepped into the sun-filled clearing, "I hate to be an uninvited guest, but since you ask..."

A huge smile split Brandon's face, "Why Natalee Ward, what brings you this far into the mountains?"

She ran forward to shake his hand, but he embraced her in a big hug. He definitely seemed taller than he had before. He had to be at least seven feet tall, maybe eight. The reason it didn't look like much from far away was that he was proportional. He was, in essence, a giant.

She pulled out of the hug, "I was looking for a big blue ox. You wouldn't happen to have seen one?"

Brandon laughed, "Funny girl!"

"Actually, I was looking for you. But I have to ask, what happened? You are so big now!"

"Oh?" the giant grinned, "That is a tale to be told over beer. Have your friends come out of the woods. Who was the fast, dark one?"

Nat now grinned on her own. They had to remind themselves that they were not the only ones who had heightened senses. "That was Cliff Ko, and I should tell you..."

"The boy who was eaten by a dragon?"

"It turns out he wasn't eaten. He was the dragon," Nat answered.

"Annie Grace," Brandon sighed, "I don't know why I didn't think of it. How is she?"

Nat looked down. She had not expected to have to tell him about the loss of friends. She just shook her head.

"How?"

"She was killed by the Faith," she said.

"I would ask what that is, but I don't suppose it is much different than it sounds. Fanatics? Hate those who are different?"

Nat nodded.

Brandon shook his head, "She was a nice lady. I am sure the old man must have known. You know about his gift, right?"

"Old man?"

"Grand Master Pike," Brandon continued, "He can tell a person's gifts."

"Yes, he could at that," Nat looked down again.

This one hit Brandon much harder, "No! He was a great man."

Nat nodded. She didn't know what to say. She would end up having to tell her father, if she ever found him. Brandon's pain would pale in comparison to that her father would feel.

They sat in silence for a moment, and Nat waved up to the sky, motioning for the others to come down. In moments, Izzy and Cliff descended into the clearing.

Brandon took one look at Cliff and burst into a hearty guffaw, "Boy, if the common folk have a problem with me, they must have a field day with you."

Nat knew Brandon's humor from the time they had spent together two years ago, but she was worried her friends would take him the wrong way. A look at Izzy's face told her she might be right, but Cliff quickly let out that menacing laugh that let her know he was alright.

"You have no idea," Cliff growled.

Brandon's laugh became even broader, "Oh my god, the laugh, the voice...you are awesome!"

His laugh was infectious. Before she knew it, they were all giggling uncontrollably, that kind of laugh that is a huge relief and you can't even remember why you are laughing. It went on for a few minutes before devolving into an awkward pause. Eventually, Brandon broke it.

"Well, if both Annie and the old man are gone, you must be here for the Angel Wand," he said.

"Yes!" Nat answered, "Thank you so much."

Brandon's smile dropped, "I don't have it. I am so sorry. The brothers took it with them. You see," he said looking over to Izzy in apology, "We turned it into a tattoo needle. I can see your feathers. I see now that it was yours, but we didn't know."

"Why would you do that?" Izzy was horrified.

"After the sickness hit, we wanted a record of our abilities. I mean, they were gone, right? So, I had them tattoo the connection on my back."

Brandon turned to show them his back art. It was beautiful, but it had depictions of strength, or power, and some small symbols.

Cliff looked closely, "Are the symbols purposeful?"

Brandon nodded, "Pike taught us about symbols. He said that the important thing was that they were important to us. He said the powers are very subjective, and anything associated with them is also subjective. The tattoos matter because they matter to us. The guys set out toward Canon City, where we had heard there were needs. They were going to use the angel wand to change things."

A strange look crossed Cliff's demonic face, "May I touch your tattoo?"

"If you think it will help," he answered.

Cliff's webbed fingers and razor-sharp claws lightly brushed over the surface of Brandon's skin, his eyes closed in concentration. Suddenly his eyes popped open.

"We have to go," Cliff said, and began moving away, "We have to find them right now."

Nat followed him and turned him around, "Cliff, what is it?"

"The use they have made for it is fine, even beautiful," he said, looking at Brandon's concern, "But, if we don't get it back before they have used it a dozen times, it will only be useful for that purpose."

"What does that mean?" Izzy asked.

"It means if we don't reach them before they have used it a dozen times, it will no longer serve our purpose," Cliff answered, nervously switching from one foot to the other like he had to pee.

Nat didn't even have to think about it. "We have to go," she said, "thank you for your time and the information, Brandon. Once we fix things in the Bluffs, you would be more than welcome back there if you wanted community."

She turned and the other two flew off. She hit a dead sprint, climbing the nearest tree.

As she reached the tops and began her leaf-walking journey, she heard Brandon yell out, "What do you mean fix the Bluffs?"

# CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

God! He had been so stupid. Kyle limped his way back to where Phineas had just finished off four more of the corpse puppets. The rustling behind him told him that Jack's minions were hot on his trail.

"Kyle Ward," Phineas called out, "Climb into the saddle, I have to get you out of here!"

Kyle nodded a curt agreement when the pain shot through his right shoulder and he tumbled to the ground. He looked up to see the centaur dispatch another group of half a dozen of the dead. He could see the blood trailing from the centaur's flank. They would both die if they continued on like this. As tired as he was, he threw a shield of light around them to distract any oncoming attackers, while also creating distortion fields in various areas away from them, just in case.

"Phineas, my friend," he started.

"No, Kyle."

"I need to ask you to leave me here," he winced at the pain in his shoulder. The blade had been dirty. Kyle's wound would infect. Without the benefit of a healer, it would fester.

"As I said," Phineas snorted, "No, Kyle. I will not leave you here to be rent limb from limb by these flesh puppets."

"Then I have no choice, bud," he said sadly, "I know you are an honorable man, and honorable centaur. I have to order you to leave me here. There is no point in both of us dying in the field today."

"I can't leave you, Kyle Ward." The centaur always preferred to call him by his full name. Kyle never understood why.

"You must," Kyle replied, "I do this of my own will. You have to return to my family and explain what happened. You have to tell them that Jack is stronger than we thought. You have to do it now."

Kyle looked up and saw them coming. From every bush and behind every tree a corpse broke into the clearing. His distraction had worked, and they went after the light distortions first. He propped himself up on his staff and pulled his blade from its sheath.

Turning away from Phineas so he wouldn't have to see the pain on the other man's face, he said, "Go now, my friend. You have a child to watch over. Watch over mine as well."

Phineas broke from the cover at full gallop, heading north along the road. Every gray eye turned toward him, and Kyle dropped the shield of light which had hidden him.

"Okay, Jack," he said, "Let's do this."

# CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

Their march had been slow, methodical. Ted and Max walked down the middle of the road, unafraid, while Lance flew overhead. Lance was almost superfluous. Max's pack roamed their area, keeping them apprised of every movement, every danger. Nonetheless, it was good to bring the angel along. Inclusion was sort of their thing.

"Still no one?" Ted asked his daughter.

Max shook her head, nodding ahead while wrinkling her nose. "The stench of death is ahead. It is fresh."

Ted gripped his staff and picked up his pace. It was a single corpse, sitting in a chair, waiting for someone. It turned out it was waiting for them.

"Hello again, Ted," Jack croaked through the dead throat, "Perhaps you can keep your friends at bay while we talk."

"Hello, Jack," Max said. It was soft, sad.

The corpse looked at her for a moment but did not reply. Eventually, it looked back at Ted, "So, you came as I assumed you would. You came to seek the help of our former enemy, the Faith. They are not here. I have made them soldiers in my army, all of them."

Ted was aghast, "All of them? The children, the elderly? Jack, how could you?"

"How long do you think it would have been before they attacked us again? I did it for you, for us all."

Max said one word, but it was an important one, "Us?"

The corpse stared at her again, its eyes darting around, but always coming back to her.

"I have Kyle," it eventually said, and Ted's heart sank.

"Is he...?" Ted couldn't bring himself to say it.

"He is still alive for now," Jack answered, "I don't want to hurt him. We need to come to an agreement, Ted. We need to be civil."

"How dare you even say that!" Ted moved forward, but Max put her small hand on his arm.

"Daddy," she said softly, "it is alright." She turned to the corpse, "I will come meet with you, Jack."

"No," he answered, his fear obvious. What did he fear? What passed between his daughter and this bastard in the few moments she was inside his head?

"I won't send my Daddy," she said.

"Natalee," the corpse intoned, "send Nat. She won't hurt me as long as I have her brother.

"She isn't with us at the moment," Ted answered, "it will take time."

"Thirty days. The Bluffs. I will know if you try to ambush me. Now, destroy the corpse, I know you are going to anyway."

Lance didn't need to be told twice. He unleashed fire on the dead man, burning it to a crisp and releasing Jack's hold on it. He landed next to Ted and Max.

"Well?" he asked, flexing his wings out in a manner both intimidating and wonderful to behold.

"I will be fine with my daughter. I need you to fly back and tell the rest of your group about this. March everyone who is able to fight toward the Bluffs. We need to end this. We make camp at the bottom of the road up. Then, I need your group to fly out to find Nat. We need her."

Lance nodded and took off into the air, flying west toward the mountains. Max reached out and held his hand.

"It will be okay, Daddy. I know what we need to do."

They turned and walked toward the west. It would take a day or two to reach the Bluffs. Normally, he would think that he would be the first there. He only hoped he could get there before Britt. His son's husband was likely to throw himself against the cliff to get his love back. In any case, he needed to get there.

# CHAPTER SIXTY

The man once known as the Fisher King, The Lord Marshall, Shogun, and Sensei walked into the command center. Britt assessed Major Eric Fine with the eye of a leader and saw what he expected, Eric was broken. After entering the room, he stood by the door, quietly staring at the floor. Britt searched every aspect of the man for the telltale signs of deception, but none were present. He was good, it could be a trick. But, for now, Britt would have to take that choice.

"Major Fine," Britt began, seeing the almost imperceptible twitch next to Eric's eye, "Thank you for coming."

"Of course, Commander Casco."

"It is Ward," Britt corrected him.

"Yes, Ward, sorry," Eric answered, "I wasn't thinking. What can I do for you?"

"I need to ask you about Master Pike's stones."

Eric's eyes looked up, inquisitive look taking over his look of sorrow, "What about them?"

"I need to understand how they work," Britt said.

Eric thought for a moment, "The one in my knife is a focus stone. There are two other stones, but I never had them imprinted. For its purpose and use, the focus stone acts as an amplifier to whatever my power is. Additionally, the Grand Master folded that focus symbol into the blade. What is the real question? What is the issue at hand?"

Britt wasn't sure he wanted to share his thoughts, but he needed the help, "Pike formed two stones which held his abilities."

"I think there are a lot of those types of stones around, right?" Eric asked.

"Yes," throwing caution to the wind, Britt continued, "but Pike's ability was astounding."

"Assessing other people's talents, or the leadership one?"

Britt shook his head in amazement, "You really do have your intel."

"Did," Eric said, looking down, "now I have nothing."

"I believe both stones only embody the assessment ability," Britt answered.

"In many ways that seems more valuable, but the other – the ability to synthesize people's needs to a greater cause? That was the true talent. So, he created assessment stones?"

"Yes," Britt nodded, "But I feel like we are using them wrong. When we used them on Rose..."

"The baby?" Eric snorted.

Britt let it go and continued, "Yes, when we used them on Rose Cross, they didn't tell us anything. But information has come to light which makes me believe there may be more to her than meets the eye."

Eric looked over to where Adam and Erica held their child. "Can I see her?"

"No!" The answer came from both parents at once.

Eric nodded, "Fair enough. Jack investigated stones while he was in my camp. I can't be sure how accurate the information he told me was, with his betrayal and everything, but I will share what I can."

"Thank you, Major."

"As I understand it, the stones are imprinted with the powers of the person doing the imprint. However, the person using the stones needs to understand how that particular person used their powers. So, in this case, knowing a little bit about you, I would guess you hold them in your hands and think about what powers the person has, and the idea enters your mind?"

"How could you know that?" Britt asked.

"It just makes sense," Eric answered, "but that isn't the way Pike's power worked, or not how he used it."

"How did he use it?"

"Think about it for a minute, we have already talked about it in this conversation," Eric added, looking over at Rose Cross with increasing curiosity.

"What? That he was a leader?"

"Yes," Eric added, looking back at him, "And what do all good leaders want, Commander?"

He couldn't believe this man was schooling him on leadership, but the answer seemed obvious, "The greater good."

Eric nodded, "So what question should you really have in your mind while holding the stones? Is it what power the person has?"

Britt shook his head. "No," he said, finally realizing where he had gone wrong, "It is what benefit does this person bring to the community!"

"Exactly."

Britt pulled the small pouch with the stones out of his pocket, "Can you stay in case I have any other questions?"

"I am at your disposal," the older man said, showing the first smile since he had been with them.

Britt pulled one of the small diamonds out of the pouch and unwrapped it from the cloth in which it was held. He placed it in the palm of his right hand and closed his fist tightly around it. Walking over to the Cross family, he placed his left hand on Rose's tiny fist, then closed his eyes.

Concentrating on the stone, then on the baby, he wondered within his own mind, what use could this child be to the community? It came to him in a flash, and Rose's coo snapped his eyes open. She giggled and her eyes glowed golden. They shimmered in a manner he had only seen in one other person, his father-in-law. She was powerful indeed.

"She is a conduit," he said, letting her parents know. "Her power is that she makes other people stronger. She is the opposite of a void mystic."

They all smiled, and Eric seemed happy with himself. The good moment was broken when a breathless Satyr ran into the room.

"Sorry for the interruption, Commander," she said, "Lance Dellago has returned. You are needed."

# CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

Cliff crept in the shadows. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Hundreds of people worked with picks and shovels in tunnels that shot through the cliffs which butted up against the Arkansas River. He had clawed his way down at dusk, behind the row of guards, who only thought to look outward. His dark skin was a natural camouflage within the tunnel, as long as he stayed away from direct light of the lanterns.

He needn't be so careful. These people were broken, damaged deep in their psyche. They were somehow enslaved to mine here. The saddest sight now hit his eyes. He had seen this man in multiple articles he had held. The thing which had been amazing to him was that in each memory he had seen, this man had been laughing. He clearly had a great spirit. But now, Mickey Cobb was broken.

His head was still bald, though there was some growth in the back that told Cliff he had been here a while. His well-trimmed goatee was now a neckbeard of scraggly, matted hair. But, there was no mistaking that this was Mickey Cobb. Cliff searched the cavern from the shadows. There were three guards, no match for the dragon of the north. Cliff smiled.

He moved to a place for the maximum effect and dropped to the ground in full view of everyone. The screams were terrible. These poor people were horrified by his visage, but it worked as intended. Rather than stay and protect the miners, the three guards ran from the tunnels as quickly as they could.

"It's okay, it's okay," he said to the remaining miners, "I am here to help. Did you see the way they ran?"

He giggled, and to his great relief, so did the enslaved people of the cavern. He walked over to his prey.

"Mickey Cobb," he said, "I have come for you."

"Jesus," Mickey answered, "I hope you are prepared to fight all of them."

Cliff looked to where Mickey pointed. Two dozen guards now rushed into the cavern, behind the ones he had sent scurrying. He should have known that would happen, of course they would get reinforcements. As they raised their weapons, Cliff smiled once more. They did not see what he could now see, the flash of movement behind them that spelled their doom.

Natalee Ward moved with grace and the speed of a hummingbird. Those who she could keep from killing, she did. But if they did not stop fighting, she dispatched them with ease. It was over in seconds, to the raucous applause and cheers of the miners.

"Natalee Ward," Micky called out, "have you come with this demon to free me from the caves of my stupidity?"

Nat rushed up and gave the man a hug, "Always. If I had known you would be here, I would have come much quicker."

"It is nice to see you still have your powers," he said.

"Yes, but why don't you?" she asked. "Brandon told us about the tattoos."

He pulled back the t-shirt he was wearing to show a spot of raw flesh. It looked like someone had taken steel wool to his arm, which Cliff guessed was precisely what had happened.

"It turns out," he said, "that the benefit lasts only as long as the tattoo."

Nat nodded, understanding, "Where is your bro?"

"About that," Mickey began, a wry smile creasing his face for the first time, "I was sent to the fucking mines and he was chosen for the pleasure duty."

Nat laughed, "I don't even know what pleasure duty means, but of course he was."

"I need to know, Mickey," Cliff interrupted, "How many times did you use the needle? The Angel Wand?"

Mickey shrugged, "I don't know, man. Maybe...hundreds?"

"Shit."

It was the first time Nat had ever heard Cliff swear. It was not a good sign.

# CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

"Is it nice to be home?" Jack asked.

It was the first time Kyle had seen him in over a year. The young man was gaunt, pale, and sickly. He did not look well. Kyle remembered him as a good-natured kid of light brown hair, with a broad smile, and a kind heart. What had happened to him?

"The place feels a little run down," He answered.

Jack's smirk was quickly hidden, but there might still be a way to get to him. Kyle looked around at the old chapel, a building his aunt had personally constructed for their friend Rich before his death. The thought of him reminded Kyle of the art they had erected for him and Kyle's mother.

"Could I visit my Mom's grave? Her statuette?"

Jack looked down, "I removed it." He followed quickly with, "It isn't damaged, I just couldn't look at it."

"Why have you done this, Jack?"

"I didn't kill her!" the response was so defensive, but still so full of shame, "I only tried to bring her back in some way, so you could all have her with you again."

"Jesus, Jack. I know that. That isn't what I meant," he wasn't interested in debating the point about what Jack had done to his mother, "But why this? Why have you set yourself up as an enemy to your own people?"

"Your father did this, Kyle! He would have killed me if I didn't run. The Hermit? Your father was the Hermit and none of you ever said anything?"

Kyle shook his head, "We didn't know. To be frank, that man is only half my dad now. He is also half Hermit. But the part that is my dad would never kill someone out of emotion. If you made a mistake, if you were trying to help? You would have been fine. Instead, you raise an army of the dead, chase us from our homes, destroy everyone's powers, for what?"

Jack paced the altar, like a preacher thinking of the next line of his sermon. "Cliff and Jenny might understand. But even they don't know all I know about how our powers work. If I had really taken away everyone's powers, they would have died, fallen apart at an atomic level."

"What does that mean?" Kyle was confused.

Jack looked at him with mild disdain, "You wouldn't understand. Everything has changed at an atomic level. One has to go deeper to know. I am the first, and perhaps only, person to do that. As to why? Isn't it obvious? You all would have hunted me down and killed me, the same way you were going to hunt Cliff, or the Hermit."

"But we didn't, Jack. We didn't hunt them, or kill them," Kyle answered.

"No, you didn't," Jack said, more to himself than to Kyle, "but I can't take that chance. For a detente, I needed to be on equal ground. I think I have the upper hand now, wouldn't you say? Your uncle is bringing your sister to deal with me."

"Oh, Jack, that isn't going to go well."

"I know," he said, "But I am not likely to allow her into the same proximity as you are right now, not without a hundred of my dead between her and me."

"Why her? Why did you want Nat brought here?"

Jack looked away, "We were friends once. I am hoping she will remember that."

"You and I were friends once too," Kyle said.

"No, you were a council member, and then you were council leader. You didn't have time for people like me."

Kyle didn't know what to say. Had he been unapproachable to his people?

Jack continued, "You can move about freely. Do not disappear, or I will have you hogtied and imprisoned. I don't want to do that, Kyle. I have eyes everywhere, don't do anything stupid."

Jack left the room through a back door. Kyle had no idea where that door went, it wasn't there when he had been here a few months before. As he walked out the front, Kyle resolved that he wouldn't try anything. It wasn't that he was afraid of Jack. There was a sadness and loneliness he had not expected in the man. For the first time, he thought this might end differently than expected.

# CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

Phineas bristled at the deception. Were it up to him, he would ride right up the road, destroying the dead as he went. He would find Jack Collins and beat him to death with his own arms. He snorted, that was a funny thought. A tiny voice broke his concentration.

"All are assembled, sir," the faerie saluted. It was the cutest thing he had ever seen.

"Thank you, Maeve," he answered, trotting out of the Manitou stable he had set up as his command quarters.

Before him were a company of demi-humans of all kinds. The werewolves were, of course, more than just fighters. As a part of Maxine Craven's pack, they were the chief means of communications between the different parts of this attack. They all knew what they had to do. It was their job to attack form the south, to destroy any dead they encountered.

Lance and Gavin waved their goodbyes before leaping into the air and flapping for height. They would join the second pincer of this attack, that of the air squadron. The third, and final attack would come from the east, and up the road. This would only be a diversion. It was the air squadron who currently transported their secret attack, their real attack. Somewhere up there, Natalee Ward was preparing for the act of her life. Unfortunately, that girl was not a great liar. He shook his head. He could only hope this would work.

# CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

Artie English kissed his wife and his newborn hatchling, before turning toward his son's namesake and nodding. Tristan was well again, better than expected. They both walked over to the headquarter tent on the peak, the only occupied building remaining. The weak, infirm, and powerless, had all gathered on the slope-side of Pike's Peak to pray for the community. If things went wrong, there would be no way to get these people down. Every demi-human, every powered person, their only hopes were all combined in a single effort to retake their homeland. It was bold, maybe a little crazy, and it all hinged on deception.

Britt Ward walked out of the building, his son Cooper holding his hand. "Artie," he began, "Bring my love home."

"Of course, bud," he answered, "Keep my love safe."

"It will be done," Artie answered, nodding once more to Tristan the older (as people had taken to calling him to differentiate from Artie's own child).

They climbed into the air as one and sped off to the rally point. They flew in silence, allowing the rush of the air to blow over them as they pierced clouds and soared ever higher. At two miles out, they saw their friends. There was no holding Tristan back. Even at this distance, their enhanced vision allowed Tristan to see Izzy's black-feathered wings. He let out a hoot and sped for his love. Artie got goose-bumps.

Izzy circled and shot into the air. She and Tristan met in mid-air, colliding in a falling hug that must have seemed dangerous to anyone who didn't know them. This was their love, their courtship. It was so beautiful to see them dance again. a few stories above the ground, they broke apart, spreading their wings and landing. They hugged one another so strongly, Artie feared their wings might break.

"Do I need to get a hose?" Mara asked, landing next to them.

Perk flew in carrying Natalee Ward, her arm around his broad shoulders, his arm around her waist.

"That is a nice sight," he said to them, "Is there romance in the air?"

"Just what is left from those two," Nat answered, pointing to the lovebirds, "This is the easiest way to travel, Arthur."

Artie laughed, "Is that what Perk told you?"

All of the angels laughed. Nat looked at his embarrassed expression and punched him on the arm.

"Ow! Fuck, Nat!" Perk squealed.

"Oops, sorry. I forget sometimes," she said, in a manner that made Artie think she never forgot anything.

"Besides," Izzy called out, "I think Nat has her sights set on someone else."

Nat blushed, "He is pretty."

They all laughed again.

"Who are we talking about?" Artie asked.

"Theo Cobb," Izzy answered, "And apologies to Perk, but she is right, Theo is pretty."

"Hey!" Tristan said playfully and pulled her in for a kiss.

"Not as pretty as you, of course," Izzy replied.

"Okay. Yuck. We ready to do this thing?" Mara asked.

Everyone giggled nodded.

"Ready," Nat said, holding a collar out with a single gem in its center. "I hope I get close enough to slap this on myself."

Artie nodded, "Trust me, I understand the feeling. We all do. But, remember the plan. The plan is everything."

"Got it," Nat said, and jumped into Perk's arms.

Artie had known Perkins for a long time. He knew the look his friend now wore. That was the look of abject desire. For Perk's own good, he hoped Nat didn't see it.

# CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

He had watched them come for a couple of days. Jack knew that they would try to be tricky, and he also knew that they had no idea how his power had grown since the trigger. Distance was a factor he would have to figure out once this whole thing was over. But he could still see all of these things at once.

He watched father and daughter walk toward the road up to the Bluffs, Maxine's dogs surrounding the area. the dogs always sniffed out his corpses, which was something else he would have to correct. The young girl's understanding of his thoughts and motives was concerning also. It had something to do with their brief connection while he was at the resort, but he would find out how it worked and make it work for him.

Phineas the centaur rode out from the south. They had almost reached the cliffs on the other side of the Bluffs. Soon, they would join Ted and Max, and all would begin the climb. These were not a concern. Once Jack unveiled his plan, the demi-humans would go along. Once they found out that he was not unlike them, they would turn to his side. He was sure of it.

But the secret strike, the one they thought he would never see, came from the sky. The angels and Natalee Ward were coming in from above. They had a surprise for Jack, and they thought he didn't know. Nat Ward, on whom he had obsessed prior to his being kicked out of the community. Nat Ward, about whom he had spent many sleepless nights, contriving a manner in which he could ask her out. She was coming to take him out. He couldn't really blame her. He had let her mother die. He had conquered her home. He had killed hundreds, if not thousands, of survivors to create his army. The old Jack would have hated the new Jack also.

As he watched the two groups of land attackers meet at the bottom of the road up to the Bluffs through eyes in corpses hidden in brush on the side of cliffs, he wondered if he would have to kill them all or would some listen. He was far more powerful than they. They needed to hear him out, but their emotions may make it necessary to kill. Perhaps if he killed Ted Craven, or a couple of the angels, maybe that would make them see how futile their efforts were. The joined group began their march up the road.

Maxine Craven looked suddenly into the eyes of one of his corpses and pointed. The little faeries flew up and lit them on fire. One by one, his line got cut, his information less. It pissed him off that he would have to replace all of those corpses. The killing would be on her head. When the last of his eyes on the cliffs went out, he focused on the air attack. This is where the real attack was coming from anyway. They were tiny specks in the sky, but he could see them circling high above. It took a moment for him to realize they were circling downward. The time had come.

His planning had been meticulous. Knowing their plans had made it so. He moved Kyle Ward into place. Four corpses with blades held to each side of his neck and each side of his femoral artery. They moved him to the center of the courtyard, so Nat couldn't miss him. She dropped from the sky like a superhero. Like a cat, she landed on her feet. It was amazing. Those beautiful eyes looked up at him.

"I am surprised to see you out in the open, Jack," she said, walking toward him.

"Your brother will pay the price if you take another step in my direction Nat."

"Is he still alive?" she asked.

"I am still alive, sis," Kyle said.

She looked at him, a tear welling up in her eye. If he could see that, she was likely too close. Jack took tow steps back while she was looking at him. Her head turned.

"Where are you going, Jack?" she asked.

"Just giving myself enough room to finish your brother should you try to attack me, or your pets drop from the sky to do the same."

She looked at him and smiled. It was time to reveal what he knew. She could not have known that he had a corpse on the hilltop on which they planned. He had hidden corpses everywhere he could think of in the past couple of months. They were too decayed to move now, but they could still hear, still see.

"Let's just get this out of the way," Jack said to her in a soft voice, "drop the void collar right now."

Her look of shock was sweet.

He continued, "I watched your uncle pick it up. I heard your plans with the angels on the hilltop. I know everything, Nat. Now drop it!"

Her face hung low in dejection. From behind her back, she pulled the collar with her right hand and limply let it fall to the ground.

"Don't kill him," she said.

"He is a captive, but I do not intend to kill Kyle if I am not forced."

Her head raised. The anger was clear on her face. Something was not right. "I wasn't talking to you," she said. "Don't kill him, Daddy."

Without the time to let that question register, he heard a whisper next to his ear, "Four collars were made, you fool."

Jack's head spun around to see the shimmer in the light behind him. It was the kind of shimmer he had been able to use to track Kyle Ward. As it dissipated, Calvin Ward slapped a collar around his neck and secured it with a speed Jack could not have imagined. The eyes and ears of his army of corpses were instantly unavailable to him. He watched the dozens in the courtyard fall down, puppets without a string. A ball of darkness flew into the courtyard, catching Kyle and deflecting the blades which probably would have cut him as the corpses fell. As it stopped, Kyle giving it a big hug, Jack realized what it was.

"Cliff Ko?" he asked.

The evil-looking beast turned, "Yes. Hello, Jack. Notice how I didn't say Hi, Jack?"

"Enough," Calvin Ward huffed, "time to finish this."

The man who had once been the Hermit raised his hand, but his own daughter stopped him, her light touch on his arm giving him pause.

"Daddy, please, I meant it. Don't kill him," she said.

"Why?" Calvin grunted, so close to Jack's ear that he could feel his breath.

"It has to stop, Dad. The man you once were knew that. You knew that wars end. You knew that peace calls for a different kind of interaction. You taught us that," Kyle added. He walked up and held his arms wide, begging his father for a hug.

Calvin nodded. He hugged his children. Jack felt the restraints being placed on him. He looked back to see the angel with the dark skin tying his hands. Another came to guard him, just as the gates of the Bluffs opened and the rest of the group came home. They were not adorned for war. Jack should have noticed that. He had been played.

# CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

They stood around what had once been the infirmary, a group of family and friends, searching for answers to the puzzle of their powers. Rose Cross lay in a crib before them, her parents doting over her, as parents are wont to do. Kyle kissed Britt and held Cooper in his arms. Jenny Martinez looked through her notes with Cliff by her side, their geekiness brought joy to Nat's otherwise concerned face.

"I have no understanding of these things," her Dad said. "To me, I wanted to do something, and did it. I don't know why it works. It is instinctive."

It was nice to hear her Dad again, as his personality overtook the Hermit. Time, it seemed, really could cure all sorts of wounds.

Eric Fine, who had slowly become an important advisor to her brother, added, "It has to be the blood. I wish we could trust Jack, so we could ask him."

Her Uncle Ted twirled the Angel Wand in his hand, now a tattoo needle, "I remember saying that to you, that I wished I could trust you. Look at us now. This wand could have been used to return people's powers. Now, it can only do so temporarily. If the tattoo fades, or changes, it could be hell for those wearing it."

Eric smiled a warm smile, "I remember you saying that also. But, that was circumstance which worked in our favor. How long can we wait for the right circumstance to find out if we can ever trust Jack Collins again?"

Max sat quietly in the corner, her matted hair hiding her face, she mumbled, "I have an answer to that."

Every head in the building turned to look at her. She looked up through the strings of hair that hung down, "I can take him in."

"Honey, no!" Aunt Kayla stated.

"What do you mean, kid?" Kyle asked her.

"He can become a part of my pack," she answered.

"How is that possible, Maxine?" Eric asked, "I thought it only worked on dogs and ... well, dog-like humans."

Max shrugged, "It was something about the connection when he killed one of my pack. I have a link. If he allows it, I can take him into my pack."

"Wait," Eric answered, "he has to want it?"

Max nodded, "Of course. They aren't forced to be in the pack. They ask."

"Really?" Nat interjected. It had never occurred to her. "But, how will that help?"

"Once he is in the pack, I will know everything he knows," she said it so matter-of-fact, that it seemed almost reasonable.

It was Nat's Dad who pointed out the problem. "But won't he also know everything you know?" Cal asked.

Max shrugged and nodded, like that wasn't a big deal. Nat wasn't sure what to think of it.

"Bring him in," Kyle nodded at her. He had a look. Much as her Dad always had, Kyle had made a decision. He had taken in the information, synthesized it, and deduced the validity of the plan. She wondered if Calvin Ward even noticed.

A moment later, Jack Collins entered the infirmary, bound and guarded by two werewolves.

"What is this?" he asked, his bitterness biting every syllable.

"We have an offer to make," Kyle answered him, "or more accurately, Max has an offer to make."

Jack looked confused but looked to the young girl anyway.

She stepped toward him, "Do you want to join my pack?"

Nat watched the wheels turn. This was a bad idea. He was already planning an escape, a counter-attack, something.

"There are no corpses around, Jack. We burned them all. By the time you could move any against us, we would have already slapped the collar back on to you," Nat told him.

"So, I have no choice?" he asked.

"If you don't want to do this," Kyle said, "you will be held for the rest of your life. But it is your choice. You can take some time. Think about it."

"I will do it," Jack answered, surprising them all. "What do I need to do?"

Max walked up, motioning for the werewolves to remove his collar and restraints. She put her hands in his, "Close your eyes."

Jack looked around the room. Nat could almost feel him searching for the nearest corpse. His eyes darted everywhere, hunting for an escape. None was offered. He closed his eyes.

Not a moment passed, his eyes opened again, and his expression matched Max's. The calm, unemotional, peace which settled over him instantly was unnerving. Nat hadn't noticed her cousin closing her eyes as well, but she opened them suddenly.

"It is her blood," Max stated, "Well, it is in her DNA, but it is the blood that will help. Use a drop in the ink."

"Just one drop?" Theo Cobb asked. Up until this point, her latest love interest had said nothing, acting more as arm candy than a useful participant in the meeting. "A canister is like a gallon. It will tattoo hundreds of symbols."

Jack answered, "The ratio is correct."

Cliff walked up to Jack, looking at him like a specimen. Adam and Erica exchanged concerned glances.

"You want to drain my daughter's blood?" Erica asked.

Jack returned their stare, compassion in his eyes, "Of course not. A drop here and there. She is the only conduit we know of right now. If we find another, we can fix it."

"And how does this fix it?" Adam asked.

"I get it," Cliff said, "The ink could be removed. Time and skin growth would change the symbol, effect the power. Ink reinforced with the conduit would seal in your DNA. Is that right?"

Max answered, "Yes. You were always very bright, Cliff."

It was so strange to know that it was Jack's memories that formed that statement. She needed to be sure, "Max, how will this thing with Jack in your pack work?"

Jack and Max exchanged a look, Jack answered, "I am amazed. I never knew this was possible. It is so peaceful. I am a part of the pack. There is no changing that."

"And the dead?" Nat pushed.

Max answered, "That is over. Jack does not need the dead. We definitely do not. He will remain here with you. The rest of the pack is more comfortable with me."

"With you?" Ted asked, "I thought you were staying."

Max's smile, for just a moment, was the one Nat recalled with the sweet pain of nostalgia, a little girl looking at her Daddy, "Of course I am staying. But, we like it in the woods. Miss Emma has been moving the forest closer around the road up to the Bluffs. She said she will continue that for me. We will be there. But, if you want to see me, all you have to do is ask Jack and I will come right up."

Nat hadn't even noticed that Adam had already pricked his daughter's finger as she watched him drop a single drop of blood into each of the two small containers of ink. Theo nodded at her and flashed that gorgeous smile.

The work would now begin.

# EPILOGUE

Kyle looked around at the blessing which had been returned to him. Four years, almost to the day, had passed since the Event. His husband carried their small son around to greet each attendee. Once again, a war was over, and the rebuilding would begin. He knew deep inside that it was unlikely to be their last. They had decided that their first gathering would be to celebrate the wedding they never got to have. The Bluffs was back to normal. As people's powers had returned, they had taken to calling the tattoos the "Mark of the Blood". Rose Cross was a hero to every community.

Mickey and Theo Cobb had set up shop in the Bluffs, offering the mark to anyone who asked. On Kyle's request, they had added small symbols of his own, which gave the council the ability to revoke someone's powers, or at least their strength of power, should a recipient not abide by the rules. Also, those rules had been codified. Terrakinetics had carved the rules into a stone which hung not far from him in the courtyard of the Bluffs.

In the weeks that passed after retaking the Bluffs, survivors had begun returning to settlements, as well as setting up entirely new ones. Kyle wanted no part of it. The council had announced its plans to remove itself from government. Kyle had noted the propensity for misuse when too much power was seated in one place. Eric had not fully agreed, of course, but he had gone along with it. Even he wanted no more of the leadership he had once held. The Bluffs would now only be a place of research and training. Though many still called it the Bluffs, in the years to come, another name would stick, The Citadel of Mystics.

The council itself had gone through changes also. They had decided that one family could not serve more than one seat on the council without too much power again resting in one place. As such, six houses were established with heads of those houses being seated on the council. House of Flora seat went to Emma Kane, of course. The House of Fauna, the name given to demi-human studies, was seated by none other than Phineas. House of Empath seated Jenny Martinez. House of Healing seated Adam Cross once again. The House of Works included Terrakinetics and people like Brandon Gains, who took over for Master Pike in blacksmithing, and was seated as its head of house. Lastly, the House of Curiosity was a research and development wing, seated by Cliff Ko, the most curious person Kyle had ever met. The council was completed by the first elected Archmystic, Kyle Ward. It was a good arrangement, and he was happy for it.

He couldn't know it, walking around the Bluffs that day, but Kyle would live an abnormally long life. He would see marriages, and births, and deaths. He would see his child, and the children of his friends, grow old and have children and grandchildren of their own. He would see the rise of the Void Queen in Denver, his own father's legendary status turn almost godlike under the new moniker of The Wanderer, and watch as dozens of kingdoms and city-states rose and fell. It would be a very long time indeed before Kyle Ward could just be Kyle Ward again. Now, he was the Archmystic. But today, he was just the husband of Britton Ward, and father of Cooper Ward, celebrating the best day of their lives. It was a good day.

THIS IS THE END OF BOOK THREE

AND THE END OF THE SAGA OF MYSTICS

## Works by Chris Walters:

## The Saga of Mystics series:

## _Age of Mystics_ (Book 1)

## _Fear of Mystics_ (Book 2)

## _Blood of Mystics_ (Book 3)

## Chronicles of Kelvin:

## Kelvin the Elven (Book 1)

## Other books:

## 3 Moons and a Stranger

## Thank you so much for reading my story, to find out more:

## http://authorofmystics.blogspot.com

## http://www.facebook.com/chriswaltersauthor

## https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ChrisWalters

## Twitter: @AgeofMystics

## Instagram: chriswalters444

# Glossary of Names

Books in which the character appears are listed in parentheses as (b1) or (b2) or (b1, b2); SS indicates the characters also appear in short stories

**Adam Cross** – 37, former US Army Medic, former restaurant manager at Pep's, Healer; head of Hillside Healing College (b1, b2, b3)

**Alan Stone** – 64, commanding officer at Fort Carson; Lieutenant General; _deceased_ (b1)

**Alex** – Warrior; Council Bluffs (b2)

**Alton Tooney** – 57, registered sex offender and neighborhood handyman, Black Forest; _deceased_ (b1)

**Amy Paolo** – 26, wife of Mike; Aquakinetic; _deceased_ (b1)

**Andy Summers** – 30, clerk at Fort Carson, Private First Class; General Andy Summers, second in command to Eric Fine; Manitou Camp; Warrior; _deceased_ (b1, b2)

**Annie Grace** – undetermined age, leader of Annie's Camp; powerful Empath; _deceased_ (b2, SS)

**Anthony Johnson** – 30, scrounge, heavy weapons, Corporal; Council Bluffs (b1, b2)

**Antwon Shabazz** – 22, Healer; Council Bluffs (b2, b3)

**Artie English** – 20; demihuman angel; leader of the A Group; push telekinetic (b3, SS)

**Ben Smith** – Empath; Council Bluffs (b2)

**Beth Merritt** – 71, mother of Kayla Craven and Kate Ward; Council Bluffs; Void Mystic (b1, b2, b3)

**Bethany Cobb** – 9; Mickey's daughter; missing (SS)

**Bill Richards** – 55, farmer, Chapel Grounds (b2)

**Brandon Gains** – 28, Strength telekinetic; entertainer (b2, SS)

**Brick Martin** – 52, pastor of the Spring Life Church, megachurch pastor, televangelist; _deceased_ (b1)

**Britton Casco** – 25, Cadet Commander at Air Force Academy; leader of warrior group at Council Bluffs; in relationship with Kyle Ward; Council Bluffs Member of the Council; Warrior (b1, b2, b3)

**Calvin Ward** – 51, Dojo owner, former soldier (b1, b2, b3)

**Callie Carruthers** – 16; Chapel Grounds (b3)

**Carruthers boys** – _deceased_ (b2)

**Chester –** infant, foal of Phineas and Mary; Annie's Camp; demihuman centaur (b2)

**Cliff Ko** – 15, role-playing gamer; Council Bluffs; Item Empath; demihuman dragon (b1, b2, b3)

**Clinton More** – 67, Commandant at Air Force Academy; Major General; _deceased_ (b1)

**Corporal Danvers** – 36, Black Forest Police Department; _deceased_ (b1)

**Cory** – 22; Lord's Hammer Leader; Chapel Grounds; _deceased_ (b2)

**Cooper Paolo** – 3; Council Bluffs; Cryokinetic (b1, b2, b3)

**Donna Harris** – 24, Private First Class, stationed at NORAD; _deceased_ (b1)

**Ellen Harris** – 28, server at Pep's; _deceased_ (b1)

**Emanuel Cortez** – 34; strength telekinetic; Monument Freeholds (b3)

**Emma Kane (Pare)** – 46, botanist; formerly stationed at NORAD; Council Member at Council Bluffs; married to Jordan Kane; Plant Empath (b1, b2, b3)

**Eric Fine** – 57, infantry officer, dojo owner; Major; AKA Sensei, Shogun, Lord Marshall; Leader of the Manitou encampment; Warrior (b1, b2, b3)

**Erica Cross (Butterfield)** – 29, former server at Pep's; married to Adam Cross; Hillside Healing College; Council Member at Council Bluffs; Power empath/power healer (b1, b2)

**Fisher** – Healer; Council Bluffs (b2)

**Frank Keller** – _deceased_ (b2)

**Garrity** – Healer; Council Bluffs (b2)

**Gavin Greene** – 20; demihuman angel; light empath; A Group (b3, SS)

**Grand Master Pike** – 74, leader of the Woodland Park Survivors, Childhood Instructor of Ted Craven and Calvin Ward (b2, b3)

**Gwen Summers** – 20; demihuman angel; power healer; A group (b3, SS)

**Hermit** – middle aged, unknown origin and identity, powerful mystic, considered an urban legend; an arch-mystic [unknown limits to powers] (b1, b2, b3)

**Isabel Sanchez** – 20; demihuman angel; weather mystic; A Group (b3, SS)

**Jack Collins** – 20, Healer, Hillside and Council Bluffs; Necromystic (b2, b3)

**Jasmine –** Healer; Council Bluffs (b2)

**Jeff Prince** \- 37, store manager at the sporting goods store (b1)

**Jenny Martinez** – 26, yoga instructor, businesswoman, local celebrity; Council Member at Council Bluffs; researcher into the powers and abilities of survivors; Item Empath (b1, b2, b3)

**Jessica Peters** – 22, student, retail employee at sporting goods store; Council Bluffs; Telekinetic (b1, b2)

**Jim Coulson** – 52, government worker for city government; was leader in Eric Fine's compound; Assistant to Grand Master Pike in Woodland Park (b1, b2, b3)

**Jim** – 23, Lord's Hammer; Chapel Grounds Leader (b2, b3)

**Jonah** – Aquakinetic; Council Bluffs (b2)

**Jordan Kane** – 25, technical support at NORAD; specialist; Council Bluffs; translation empath; married to Emma Pare (b1, b2, b3)

**Jose Rio** – 21, infantry soldier, stationed at NORAD; Private; assumed dead (b1)

**Kara Cobb** – 27; Mickey's wife; Missing (SS)

**Kim Pile** – 50, Realtor, Black Forest resident, overtly religious; Pyrokinetic; Council Bluffs (b1, b2, b3)

**Kate Ward** – 45, Cal's wife; Illusion Empath; Council Bluffs; _deceased_ (b1, b2)

**Kayla Craven** – 47, Ted's wife; Terrakinetic; Council Member at Council Bluffs (b1, b2, b3)

**Kelly –** Healer; Council Bluffs; Council Member (b2; b3)

**Kin Ko** – 24, former student at Denver University; Cliff's brother; Council Bluffs; warrior (b1, b2, b3)

**Kyle Ward** – 23, former student at Pikes Peak Community College and employee at Sporting goods store; Light Empath; Council Leader at Council Bluffs; in relationship with Britt Casco (b1, b2, b3)

**Lance Dellago** – 20; demihuman angel; pyrokinetic; A group (b3, SS)

**Mara Gunn –** 20; demihuman angel; void mystic; A Group (b3, SS)

**Marvin** – demihuman werewolf; Max's relay to the Bluffs (b2, b3)

**Mary** – 25, demihuman Centaur, Mate of Phineas (b2)

**Maxine Craven** – 14, Ted and Kayla's daughter; powerful Canine Empath; Missing (b1, b2, b3)

**Mickey Cobb** – 31, pyrokinetic; entertainer (b2, SS)

**Mike Paolo** – 28, Amy's husband; Hillside; _deceased_ (b1)

**Miles Damiano** – 33, former army scrounge; part time dojo manager at FMAA; Eric Fine's right hand man; _deceased_ (b1)

**Monty German –** 30, Warrior; Council Bluffs (b2)

**Natalee Ward** – 20, prom queen; powerful Warrior; (b1, b2, b3)

**Nate** – 22, Lord's Hammer; Chapel Grounds; _deceased_ (b2)

**Niall** – 27; Pyrokinetic; Head of Kinetic School at Briargate; Council Member (b2, b3)

**Paul –** Manitou bandit (b2)

**Peri** – 24, Jenny's assistant; Council Bluffs; demihuman faerie (b1, b2, b3)

" **Perk" James Perkins** – 20; strength telekinetic; A Group (b3, SS)

**Phineas** – 35, demihuman Centaur; mate of Mary; Council Bluffs; Warrior (b2, b3)

**Rich Carson** – 61, former pastor of small church in Black Forest; neighbor of Ted and Kayla; Music Empath; Council Member at Council Bluffs; _deceased_ (b1, b2)

**Ricky Cortez** – 28; Monument Freeholds (b3)

**Ronnie Jones** – 25, drug dealer; _deceased_ (b1)

**Rose Cross** – 1; child of Adam and Erica (b2, b3)

**Serena** – 25; Chapel Grounds (b3)

**Silvio "Sal" Martino** – 61, Leader of The Faith, Anti-Mystic; Chapel Grounds; _deceased_ (b2)

**Slim** – Terrakinetic; Council Bluffs (b2)

**Steph Richards** – 51, farmer; Chapel Grounds (b2)

**Steve** – Manitou Bandit (b2)

**Ted Craven** – 51, infantry NCO; stationed at Fort Carson; Sergeant First Class; Council Bluffs; Powerful Warrior (b1, b2, b3)

**Theo Cobb** – 22, Weather Mystic; entertainer (b2; SS)

**Tristan Stone** – 20, demihuman angel; Warrior; A Group (b3, SS)

**Tyler** – 22, Lord's Hammer; Chapel Grounds; _deceased_ (b2)

**Willis** – 30; Manitou Guard (b3)

**Zane Meyer** – 50, infantry NCO; stationed at Ft. Carson; Staff Sergeant; _deceased_ (b1)
