Fire Summoner--Bones and Ashes Trilogy--Book 1 Read online

  Michael shook his head. He might have to lowball now. He gazed into those striking gray eyes with thick lashes that he wished she didn’t blink so often because whenever she did, his stomach did a somersault. “Lyla, I know you are more than capable of turning on your equipment now and reconnecting us to the Eudaizian system so we can call for help. But I’m asking you to just wait a bit and let Gale find us his way.”

  “I can’t just sit here waiting while people are bursting into flames around me.”

  “It’s not your fault that the Shadow tracked you here. It’s done that before. It’s killed people in massive scale just to lure you out. Gale has arranged this location, and it’s safe for now. I’m sure he’s frantically searching for you now—”

  She nodded and cut in. “If I trigger the signal, it might jeopardize Gale’s effort. It could backfire and put him in danger, too.”

  “I’m glad you understand that.”

  “But you have to stay here, too. A large percentage of your make is human, and it could burn you like it burns others. It happened before in Xiilok. Don’t go out there by yourself.”

  He sat down on a chair opposite her. “The problem is, Lyla, we don’t know how long it’s going to take for Gale to find us. This is Earth, not Eudaiz. Gale has arranged this suite, but anything else—such as arranging our next meals or getting transport to go to Hue, if you still want to do that—requires cash. And we have none.”

  “Cash?”

  “I mean money. Currency. And even if we had the money, I would still have to physically go to buy the air tickets. Or I could get a car—a means of transport here that’s similar to the private capsule in Eudaiz. But whatever it is we need, I have to go out there and get it, and I can’t have you tagging along.”

  “I could help.”

  “No, you draw attention. And that’s not good.”

  “You mean I stick out like a sore thumb because of my looks? And you don’t?”

  “No, I blend in. And it’s not just your physical looks I’m worried about. It’s your Eudaizian energy. I’m sure they can track that. But because I am largely human, I blend in better.”

  “But they can track me here, too!”

  “Gale has a system in place to protect this room. In terms of technology, you’d know better than me what it might be.”

  She nodded. “He might have put a frequency deterrence system in place to mask our signals. But that can only be tracked if I turn on my machine.” She frowned. “So you’re saying I not only have to stay here, but I’m not to operate any equipment, either?”

  Michael nodded. “That would be best.”

  “I understand. I’ll wait here.”

  He stood to leave the room.

  “Michael.”

  “Yes.” He turned around and saw she had followed him to the door.

  “Please be careful.”

  “Always.”

  “In Xiilok, when you were in the Fire, you do know if you didn’t pass, the Shadow could have killed you, don’t you?”

  “I know. If you hadn’t pulled me out, I would have died. And to help me, you had to look into my past and invade my privacy—your words. But I don’t mind, Lyla. I know why you did it, and I know what I’m doing now.”

  “That’s the thing. I don’t think you know what you’re doing as much as you’d like to believe. What I saw in your mind wasn’t just the incident that led to the death of your mother and your stepfather. That was just the surface. The only reason I was able to pull you out of that fire alive was that the Shadow thought it was your emotional wound, your weakness, so it kept attacking that point.”

  “So let’s keep it that way then.”

  “Give me your hand.”

  “What?”

  She reached her hand out. “Come on.”

  He stuck out his hand. She pressed her fingers against the vein on his wrist.

  “You’re taking my pulse?”

  “Shss.”

  He shrugged.

  “Okay, I’m right,” she said nonchalantly and let go of his wrist.

  “Of course you are. You’re always right.”

  “This isn’t a joke, Michael. You might take your life lightly, but my father certainly didn’t. And I don’t, either. You don’t have to confirm or deny what I’ve analyzed based on the surface information I saw in your mind. I won’t even speak of it.”

  “So not only did you invade my privacy and read my mind, you analyzed the data, too?”

  “That’s how we win technological wars, Michael. The Shadow and our adversaries rely on the amount of data they can steal, buy, or kill to get. But their analytics are pathetic. We build on our ability to make sense of the data. I’m sorry I used that ability on you. But the situation called for it.”

  “It doesn’t matter at this point. Let’s worry about the situation at hand.”

  “This is the situation at hand, Michael. When you walk out that door, I want you to be fully prepared—and I want you to come back here alive. Because I won’t be there this time to pull you out of a fire.”

  “You won’t have to.” He turned toward the door.

  “You think my father sent you to my time to protect me?”

  “He told me so.”

  “It’s partially true. It’s not the whole truth, but it’s not a lie, either. He wanted me to protect you, too. He knows what you are.”

  “That’s impossible!” Before he realized what he was doing, his fist hit the wall, leaving a big dent. A picture hanging there fell to the tile floor and shattered.

  “You’re upset because you know I’m telling the truth. I spent only one second in your mind, and I know that much. My father killed a man for you, pulled you out of that pool of blood and gore, and carried you around in his arms for hours. Do you think he wouldn’t know?”

  His head was ringing. He felt Lyla’s cool hand wrapped around his. “You’re beautiful being what you are, Michael. And if you accept that, the Shadow has no chance of attacking you. Promise me you’ll come back here in one piece?”

  He nodded, turned and pushed the door open, and walked out.

  Chapter Four

  Gale pounded his fist on a black button on the dashboard of his control panel. The action immediately cut off his machine from the entire system. Is that enough? he wondered. Sweat ran down his spine. Every vein in his body felt as if it was going to explode.

  He’d lost Lyla and Michael.

  Maybe the system had been hacked. This was a private mission between Lyla and him, and thus he couldn’t raise an alarm or ask for assistance from central.

  He looked out of the window at the vast open space of the Daimon Gate landscape. The scene was his own design—peaceful forests and rolling green hills wound around by cheerful springs where happy fish swam. But it was the reality in the Daimon Gate that he needed to see right now.

  He had made a huge mistake. Reality on Earth wasn’t under his control. There were no sub dimensions, mind dimensions, vision dimensions, and illusion dimensions for him to play with. On Earth, the reality was what people saw. But before he had figured out that he’d placed Michael and Lyla in the wrong place, and before he could rectify the problem, a storm of viruses had surged. The last thing in his reality was the black screen and Michael’s voice informing him they had been tracked by the Shadow.

  He had placed his friends in the incorrect place without support and without connection to the mainframe system. He had put them in a place where both their adversary and the creepy creatures of the multiverse had the ultimate power.

  He had to inform central.

  He reached for the control panel.

  No. What if this was a trap to trigger him to communicate with central? It would be an even bigger disaster if central was hacked because of him.

  “Gale Brody, you’re a total disaster!” he said to himself and grabbed an isolated portable computer. He punched a green button on the communication panel, and in a short moment, Lex, his deputy in this station
, stepped in. Did he trust Lex? Probably not. Actually, he trusted no one. On top of that, he couldn’t afford any mistakes when it came to Lyla’s safety.

  Now that he knew she was Eudaizian royalty, it made things even worse. He shook his head. How could he have been her friend for so long without figuring this out?

  “Yes, Gale.” Lex donned his usual grin, one that seemed almost genuine this time.

  “Can you handle the station for a couple of days? I need to make a trip to Eudaiz on a personal matter.”

  “Manage all that?” Lex gestured to the open space of the station. Computers were everywhere. Some were stationed, some were floating, and some followed the owners around like loyal servants. This was one of the busiest stations in the Daimon Gate. It processed the initial travel permits for citizens from member universes.

  In the multiverse, being a member of the Daimon Gate was the safest option as the gate screened all citizens across the member universes. It was a close circle, and there had been very few occasions when the gate had been infiltrated.

  Gale arched an eyebrow. “You don’t think you’re ready for this?”

  “No… I mean, yes! I always wanted to have a go at it…”

  “But?”

  “There’s a rumor, and don’t quote me on this because it’s only a rumor, but it’s said that we’re going to be the station that handles the applications of the first wave of the free spirit people applying for travel permits. If that happens, it will be soon, and I don’t want to be in the middle of it when you’re away. Remember what happened with Lyla’s station? You almost died.”

  “Free spirit people? Are you talking about Xiilok travelers?”

  “I wish it were that simple. These are humans I’m talking about.”

  “That’s insane. Even if you take the time difference into account, how is that going to work? A fraction of time here could be years on Earth. So they apply, and by the time we get it approved, it’s their grandchildren who travel with the permit?”

  Lex waved his arms in the air. “How should I know?”

  Gale stood and paced the room. Then something dawned on him. In theory, it was possible if the time dimension could be manipulated. But the theory had never been proven successful. Even Eudaiz hadn’t been able to affect the dimension of time, and thus when talking about time traveling, everyone got iffy.

  Gale looked at Lex. “Unless…”

  Lex had apparently been thinking the same thing because he finished Gale’s sentence. “Someone or something promised the naive citizens of Earth that they could get a permit because they can manipulate the time difference.”

  “That’s exactly what happened with the gypsies from Xiilok,” Gale said. “This is bad. I just sent Lyla and Michael to Earth. They’re going to be right in the middle of that again. I have to call central. When did you hear the rumor?”

  Lex stood still, staring into nothingness.

  “Lex, where did you…” Gale trailed off as he just realized what was happening. He had only enough time to dive through the glass window. The glass shattered, and along with the sound of that breaking glass, he heard the walls inside the building collapsing and the sounds of explosion and fire. He didn’t have to think too hard to know that the explosion had come from Lex’s body.

  He scrambled as far away from the station as he could.

  The smell of burnt material and flesh spread through the air. The pressure from the explosions had demolished a wedge of the forest. Gale dove into a stream. From under the water, he could see his happy fish being thrown from the water to the land.

  After waiting under the water for as long as he could and hearing no more explosions, he surfaced. In front of him was his ruined station and the carnage of charred hills.

  Chapter Five

  Michael strode along the street as quickly as he could. He didn’t need to go back to the shop where the owner had been killed for simply talking to Lyla to know it was a disaster zone. He needed to keep Lyla constantly moving. Once they got to Hue and Ha Long Bay, she could do whatever she wanted—and that would be a bonus—but his top priority now was to keep her on the move. As soon as Gale located them and opened the gateway, he would take her back to Eudaiz in a heartbeat.

  The most practical thing he needed for now, though, was cash.

  He didn’t want to risk using any kind of communication technology, so calling for help was out of the question.

  An old Toyota was parked in a quiet back corner of a small alley. There was nobody around, so Michael approached the car. It looked decent and could probably be used for the long-distance trip to Hue. He glanced around, still seeing no one. If they’d been in New York, he would probably have snatched the car in the blink of an eye. He’d use it and then return it later.

  But he knew it didn’t work that way in Vietnam. This car was most likely the way a family here earned a living. He didn’t even want to guess how many kidneys they’d had to sell to afford it. Temporarily borrowing it would be the equivalent of murder, and he refused to have that on his conscience.

  “Do you want to rent it?” someone asked from behind him.

  Michael turned around and saw a man in his fifties standing behind him.

  “I would love to,” Michael said, “but I don’t have any money on hand.” He yanked off the chain he wore around his neck. The feel of the cold chain leaving his body for the first time in his life made his stomach do a tumble, but he ignored it. Somewhere in heaven, he knew his mother would be looking down on him with understanding and giving him her blessing. As she always did.

  He rubbed his thumb over the stone charm quickly and then gave the chain and the charm to the man.

  “Are you interested in this? Or do you know someone else who would be?”

  The man looked at the stone charm, rubbing his thumb on it the way Michael had just done.

  “This has too much value. My car isn’t enough to trade for it.”

  “It’s just a gesture of good faith…to show you that I’ll be returning your car and will pay for all expenses—and more—while I’m using it. The chain has sentimental value to me, so I wouldn’t sell it at any price. But my current situation calls for it. I need money and transportation.”

  The man nodded. “Where do you need to go?”

  Michael said nothing.

  “I know it’s hard to trust a stranger. Come with me.”

  He pointed to the corner of the street that led to the main road. Michael followed him. Soon they stood in front of a high-rise, with a local bank occupying the ground floor. The man approached the ATM machine. “How much do you need?”

  “Enough for living expenses—food and accommodation for two people for a week.”

  The man smiled and nodded. He withdrew some money and gave it to Michael. He pulled out a small notebook and a pen from his pocket and said as he wrote, “These are my contact details so that you can come back for your chain and return my car.”

  Michael took the paper. “Thank you.”

  “Even without the charm, I can tell you’re a good man, and you won’t steal my car.” The man headed back toward the car.

  “You’re psychic?”

  The man smiled. “No, I’m a stone reader. And the stone told me you’re godsent to do whatever it is you’re doing.”

  “I’m not religious, and I don’t think God has anything to do with what I’m doing.”

  The man shook his head. “I’m not religious, either. But I do believe in karma. The stone is from your mother, isn’t it?”

  Michael nodded.

  “You see, the stone told me that…”

  “No, no, we shouldn’t be talking. I shouldn’t be talking to you for so long. Keep my chain. I’ve got the money, and that’s all I need. Thank you.”

  He waved a goodbye and scurried away. The man spoke from behind him. “You have to trust someone at some point. And you have to trust yourself.”

  “You don’t understand. There’s something that kills people ar
ound me… I mean, around someone I’m traveling with. I don’t know how it’s triggered. If you care about your family, please go away.”

  “Are you worried about the fire that killed Minh at the shop?”

  Michael stopped in his tracks. “You know about that?”

  The man smiled. “Rest assured…it cannot kill me.”

  “Who are you?”

  “That’s not important. I am here to let you know that you’re blessed, and loved…”

  Michael grabbed the man by the collar and pushed him against a wall. “You tried to burn me, and you failed. Don’t try it again, because I have no emotional wounds. I could kill you right now, but you’ve taken the form of an innocent human, and I feel disturbed at having to kill him. So get the fuck out of his body!”

  A blast of cold air threw Michael across the small alley, and he crashed into the brick side of a building.

  The man smiled again and pressed his palms against the road. The concrete around his hands froze, and a crack ran across the street to a streetlight, which toppled to the ground. “No fire can burn through that,” he said. “And as you can see, I don’t operate on fire.”

  Michael scrambled to his feet. “What are you?”

  “I’m only a messenger. I’m here to tell you that you are blessed and loved…”

  “Enough! Who sent you?”

  “You have the note. I have done a good deed for you and your loved ones today. I will be asking for a favor in return. Wait for my sign.” His image flickered a few times and then dissolved into thin air.

  Michael looked back at the main road. Nobody was paying any attention to what was going on in the small alley because all the attention was still focused on the fire in the shop.

  Michael checked the money in his pocket. It was still there, and the car keys were in his hand. He pulled out the note the man had given him. Instead of the address he’d seen before, the note said, You’re blessed and loved, as always, Michael. SF.