Keep’s eyes shifted to George. “You want the truth?”

  “It would be nice.”

  Keep grabbed the dead mercenary’s rifle, swinging it toward George and firing in one smooth motion. The energy bolt shot over his shoulder and added to the holes in the van. “Do you have energy blasters on Earth?”

  “Cool!” Kyrie said.

  “That could be some top secret experimental rifle or something. It doesn’t mean it came from outer space.”

  “George,” Gloria said. “Why would they bring experimental energy blasters when guns would be more than sufficient? Unless that’s all they have.”

  “Bingo,” Keep said. “My point exactly.”

  “Maybe because…" He looked overwhelmed. "...it means their story is actually true, and we were attacked by people from another galaxy.” He exhaled sharply. “I don’t know. This is all too much for one day.”

  “Avelus, I have a question,” Gloria said.

  “What is it?” Keep replied.

  "Ben…" She looked at me."...how did you lift our entire house from the foundation like that?”

  "What the hell?" George’s gaze shifted again, settling on the floor that was all that remained of their home. “I didn’t even notice. How did you do that?”

  “Alien technology,” Keep replied, walking back to us. “No biggie.” He sighed. “Look, I don’t mean to be ungrateful or terse or anything, but I can’t guarantee more Niflin; err…human mercenaries won’t show up to finish us off once their friends over there never come back. We really should move to a more secure location.”

  “This is our home,” Gloria said. “Was our home. Where are we supposed to go? We lost everything.”

  “And it’s your fault,” George added. “We almost died because of you. What do you plan to do about that?”

  Keep’s eyes narrowed. “How about I let you live?”

  “What?” George and I both said in unison.

  “I’m doing you a service by trying to justify anything to you at all. But I’m running out of patience. I don’t want to be here if more goons show up, and I’m pretty sure you don’t either. I need some basic information. One, what did their leader look like? Two, how did they remove our ship from the barn? Answer those two questions and I’ll give you a ride back to Fresno and stick a hundred thousand dollars in your bank account to help you recover some of what you lost. What do you say?”

  “A hundred grand won’t pay to rebuild the house. And you can’t replace all of the mementos we just lost.”

  “Don’t you have fire insurance?”

  “Of course.”

  Keep glanced over at me. “There it is. Badabing badaboom. A hundred thousand smackers, that’s fifty thousand per answer. Take it or leave it.”

  “I’m starting to think we should just call the police,” George said.

  “That wouldn’t be a good idea,” Keep replied.

  “Why not?”

  “My way, you get a hundred thousand dollarinos. A good chunk of cheddar. Call the cops, you get nothing but us potentially behind bars. And what good will that do you now? What’s done is done. You can still profit from it.”

  “He’s got a point,” Gloria said.

  “He almost got us killed,” George reminded her.

  “Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades,” Keep replied. “You’re all fine. You can rebuild your house and use the money to buy new clothes and a brand new car. I don’t have to offer you anything.” His expression went ice cold. “You’re worried about your sweet little girl?” He put his hand up, sigil glowing beneath his skin. She slid across the dirt, right into his grasp. “Maybe you aren’t worried enough.”

  Kyrie started crying.

  “Keep!” I shouted. “Stop it!”

  “You let her go right now,” George said, hands balling into fists. “Or so help me, I will—”

  “This isn’t a game, George,” Keep hissed. “They nearly killed you, and you’re wasting the time of the only two people in the universe who can ensure they don’t try again. It doesn’t matter where we’re from or who we are. Compared to what could happen, all of that is irrelevant. I’m trying to protect you, but you’re being too pigheaded to see it. There are forces at play here that you don’t understand. Forces that could rip this planet in half in a matter of seconds, and Ben and I may be the only ones who can stop it.” He let go of Kyrie. She ran to George, grabbing onto his leg and hiding behind him. Keep’s voice softened. “If you want her to be safe, we need answers.”

  George stared at him in silence for nearly thirty seconds. Finally, he turned to Gloria. “We can’t afford to not believe him, as crazy as it all sounds.”

  “No, we can’t,” she agreed, looking to Keep. “How did you pull Kyrie to you like that? Your skin…”

  “Alien technology,” Keep repeated. “No biggie. Are you getting in the van, or are you staying here to die?”

  George and Gloria looked at one another before George turned back to Keep. “I think we’re getting in the van.”

  CHAPTER 20

  We left the Frasier farm ten minutes after George and I picked up the dead mercenaries’ rifles and loaded them into the van. Having finally taken Keep’s warning to heart, the Frasiers didn’t voice any more complaints, following his orders without hesitation.

  Pulling away from the remains of the farmhouse, Keep drove the van like Sedaya’s forces were already chasing us. I didn’t know if his concern was genuine or if he was trying to play up the danger to the Frasiers so they would be more compliant, but since it was working to increase my tension and alertness it had to be working on them, too.

  “Are you sure they won’t intercept us on the way to Fresno?” George asked. “They have to know that’s the closest town.”

  I glanced back at him, noticing how Kyrie traced the outline of one of the laser holes with her finger before poking it through.

  “Kyrie, don’t touch that,” Gloria snapped. “You’ll slice your finger open.”

  “It’s smooth, mom.”

  “Don’t touch it,” she repeated.

  “No, I’m not sure,” Keep answered George. “But if they’re tracking us, they likely aren’t doing it from the ground. And if they give us trouble on the way, we have more firepower to fight back. Kyrie, you were in the barn when they came. What did you see?”

  “Not a lot because I was hiding,” she replied. “But I did see a bunch of them come into the barn. They spread out to look around and checked the whole place, making sure no one else was there. The one without the helmet, she came in last.”

  “She?” Keep said, surprised. “You saw a woman? Or was it a man with long hair?”

  “Definitely a woman, unless the man has boobs. She was pretty too, with silver hair and big eyes.”

  “If accurate, that would rule out Sedaya,” Keep said softly so only I could hear him. “What color were her eyes?”

  “I couldn’t see them that well from a distance.”

  “What was she wearing? A black suit like the others?”

  “No. She had on a long-sleeve red shirt and black pants. Oh and a long red leather coat that looked like it was made of snakeskin. It was really nice. I wish I had a coat like that. All her clothes were real nice.”

  “What about her ears? Did you get a look at them?”

  “Not really.”

  “Any ideas?” I asked when Keep fell silent.

  “Nope. And I don’t like it one bit. I thought I knew all the players.”

  “You said you never heard of Succaath," I said, "which means you definitely don’t know all the players. Maybe the woman is Succaath.”

  "I suppose it’s possible.” He sighed in frustration. “Kyrie, did you see them take our ship?”

  “Sort of.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The pretty woman, she stood in front of your plane and the back of her hands started to glow like your wrist did, and then the ship lifted off the ground and floated out of the barn.”

  “You saw it?” Gloria asked.

  “Yup. It looked like she was doing a magic trick.”

  Keep growled, speaking softly again. “Another archon. I’m afraid to guess how many Sedaya’s already introduced back into the Spiral.”

  “We aren’t in the Spiral,” I replied. “How many has he introduced here on Earth? It was supposed to be zero.”

  “There isn’t much we can do about that now, kid. They caught us on our heels, that’s for sure. Kyrie, did you see what happened to the ship after it left the barn?”

  “I couldn’t see that well. It looked like it floated away.”

  “It definitely went up?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I was worried about Earth radar noticing us on the way down,” I said. “How could something bigger avoid detection?”

  “How do we know they avoided detection? If they got in and out fast enough they would be long gone before anyone came to investigate. In any case, cloaking against Earthian sensors isn’t very difficult. You have that capability here.”

  “I don’t think it was a spaceship,” Kyrie said.

  Keep lifted an eyebrow, glancing back at her. “I thought you didn’t see it?”

  “I didn’t.”

  Keep glanced at her. “Then how do you know it wasn’t a spaceship?”

  “I don’t know it wasn’t. But I do know the sound of a helicopter when I hear one. Unless they made it sound just like a helicopter to trick us.”

  I could see the surprise and confusion stretch across his face. “Are you one hundred percent sure, kiddo?” he asked, looking back at her again.

  “I heard it. I’m sure.”

  “George, Gloria, did you hear it too?”

  “No,” they both said.

  “But we were in the basement being interrogated,” George added. “And if Kyrie says she heard a chopper, I believe it.”

  “Not the answer I was looking for,” Keep mumbled. “This keeps getting worse and worse.”

  “What are you thinking?” I asked.

  “I’m thinking that a deployment of mercenaries from Eviscerator should have arrived on a starship.”

  “But why would they transit from the Spiral in a starship and then use a helicopter to take Flippy?”

  “Exactamundo. Why would they? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Unless they didn’t transit in a starship.”

  “Bingo! Now you’re cooking with gas.”

  “But if they didn’t come across on a ship, how did they get here?”

  “Two possibilities. One, they used a different vehicle loaded with a catalyst, similar to the limo, to get here. Two, they were already here. Which consequently would explain why the ambush party was composed of humans instead of Niflin.”

  “But if Sedaya already had a connection to Earth, he could have come after you here anytime.”

  “Only if he knew I was here. Which he shouldn’t, because he had no idea I was an archon until I used the sleeve to help us escape. That’s why I don’t like to use the sigiltech without good reason. The bigger questions are why does he have forces here? What are they doing on Earth? And how long have they been here?”

  “I think the bigger question is, how did they know where to find us?” I asked. “Flippy was hidden in the barn.”

  “That’s an easy one,” Keep replied. “Thanks to the near meltdown the core was still plenty excited enough for them to pick it up on sensors. I based our security efforts on the assumption we were the only ones here from the Spiral. I couldn’t have been more wrong about that one if I’d tried.”

  “It seems to me like you don’t know half as much as you think you do,” George said.

  I expected Keep to fire back with a biting, sarcastic response. He nodded instead. “I’m starting to think that’s true. I’m not accustomed to being behind the curve.”

  “How do you think they knew to look for us?” I asked.

  “Remember when I told you there’s a way for two archons to communicate across the universe in real time?”

  “Yeah.”

  “There you go.”

  “You said it was hard to do. But now you think the woman and Sedaya know how to make the connection? Do you think he contacted her and told her to find us?”

  “I don’t really know what to think right now, Bennie. When nothing is making sense, any possibility is in play. That logic has the best fit with our preceding assumptions.”

  “How quickly do you think he could have contacted her?”

  Keep shrugged. “Assuming he realized how we left, a few minutes to an hour at most.”

  “And how long would it take them to locate Flippy after that?” I asked, my heart starting to pound.

  “Depends on if they already have the equipment in orbit. Twenty minutes to an hour?”

  “What about getting eyes on the farm, like from a satellite or orbiting ship?”

  Keep looked over at me again. “What are you getting at, kid?”

  “Answer the question,” I replied, heart thumping a little harder.

  He returned his eyes to the road. “If they have cameras on the same equipment that tracked us, almost immediately. Why?”

  “Is it possible they were watching us from the moment we left the farm?”

  Even in profile I could see the pained expression ripple across Keep’s face. “They might have tracked the car,” he admitted.

  “They asked me where you were going,” George said. “Not where you were. They must have already known you left.”

  “Keep,” I said, voice tight, trailing off as a chill ran through my entire body.

  “I know, kid.” He put his foot down on the accelerator, jolting the van forward.

  “What is it?” George asked. “What’s going on?”

  I looked back at him, struggling to maintain any sense of calm. “We went to visit my mother, and the bad guys probably know it. Can I borrow your phone?”

  He was already digging it out of his pocket before I asked. He passed it to me, and I quickly entered her number with shaking hands. If they were tracking us, they had to know we’d come back to the farm. What reason would they have to go after Mom?

  Sedaya hated me. What other reason did a man like him need?

  The phone didn’t even ring. It dumped me straight to voicemail, where Mom cheerily asked the caller to send a text if they were a friend and to piss off if they were from the IRS or a collection agency.

  I stared out at the open road, heart beating so hard I thought it would burst out of my chest, body so cold I shivered in my seat. Looking back at the phone, I quickly entered Sheri’s number and hit the call button. Her phone rang at least.

  “Come on, Sher,” I whispered. “Pick up.”

  She didn’t pick up. The call again went to voicemail. I thought about leaving a message, but if my worst fears were becoming realized, I didn’t want to inadvertently give Sedaya’s goons any hint I knew anything about them. I tried calling her a second time, and then Mom again when she still didn’t pick up. Same result as the first time.

  “Well?” Keep asked.

  “We need to go back to Modesto,” I replied. “Her phone went straight to voicemail, and Sheri isn’t picking up, either.”

  Keep winced and looked at me. “I’m sorry, Bennie. It’s two hours back. If she’s not answering her phone, they probably—”

  “I’m going back to Modesto, Keep,” I snarled. “With or without you.”

  “Do you really think that even if they have your mother, they’re going to hold her in her apartment in Modesto?”

  “I don’t know. I have no idea what they’ll do with her. Or to her. That’s the whole damn problem!” I shouted the last part, losing what was left of my restraint. It was one thing when all of this affected just me and Matt on the other side of the universe. But now it was way too close to home.

  It was home.

  “If they take her, they’ll use her as leverage,” Keep said. “Probably trade her for the Grimoire. Or for you so you can get them the Grimoire.”

  “I’ll make that trade.”

  “No, you won’t. I’m sorry, Bennie. Your mother isn’t as important as the entire galaxy.”

  “That’s not your decision to make,” I growled back. “My mother is in danger. Maybe Sheri too. The only lead I have is the apartment in Modesto. We led them straight there. I don’t really care if you come or not. Go figure out how to save the galaxy on your own. If you think they aren’t important, you can go to hell.”

  Keep glanced at me again. Opened his mouth to say something else. Then thought better of it.

  “Okay. We’ll go back and see if they left a ransom note or something. But we still need to take the Frasiers somewhere safe. We’re not in a position to head there directly.”

  “Did I hear you right?” George said, leaning forward in his seat. “You really think the people that attacked us went after your mother too?”

  “I don’t know for sure, but it sure seems that way. I’m not taking the chance that she’s tied up and held hostage like you were.”

  “Why don’t you call the police?” Gloria said.

  “And tell them what? My mom’s being held hostage by an intergalactic motorcycle gang?”

  “You could make up something a little less wild, at least get them to check on her.”

  “If it’s not an emergency, they won’t come. If it was an emergency, she would have called 911 instead of me,” I said. “Can’t this thing go any faster?”

  “It’s a U-haul, not a Ferrari,” Keep replied, though he did mash down the accelerator a little more. “I’ll get us there as fast as I can.”

  “You’re going the wrong way,” George said.

  “No I’m not. This is the road to Fresno.”

  “Forget about Fresno.”

  “George?” Gloria questioned.

  George looked over at her. “We can head to the Ackermann farm. It’s about ten miles from here. Their granddaughter Sally is friends with Kyrie. Bill Ackermann has a classic Mustang. Beautiful car. If you want to get somewhere in a hurry, that’s how you’ll do it. And it’ll save you time if you leave us at Bill's place instead of dropping us somewhere in Fresno.”