A Dome of Blood Read online

  Hansa, Jovi, and Anjani stood next to him, equally determined to see this through to the end. There were over six hundred of us in here. Ta’Zan’s Perfects could be manipulated—Amal and Amane were together again, and they could maybe build the device they needed to do a mass memory wipe.

  “Word is that Douma turned against Ta’Zan, even after she was… reconditioned,” Jovi chimed in.

  “No, Amal swooped in on this one. Ta’Zan ordered her to wipe Douma’s memory, but Amal left her with both sets, old and new, and gave her a choice,” Jax replied. “Spoke to Heron via Telluris. He gave me the details.”

  “Wow, so even knowing exactly what she’d done and thought while loyal to Ta’Zan, Douma chose us,” I murmured, then found myself grinning. “And let’s not forget Raphael, who didn’t even need his memory wiped to choose to help us.”

  Corrine huffed, then shot to her feet and cursed under her breath. I knew exactly what ailed her. She loved Kailani more than anything, and she dreaded the thought of seeing her in here, with a collar around her neck, like the rest of us.

  “Corrine,” I said gently. She looked at me, resting her hands on her hips. “You know Rose as well as I do. You know that when she says she’s got this, she does, right?”

  She thought about it for a moment, then nodded slowly.

  “Good. Glad we got that settled,” I answered, trying to keep a serene expression, though every fiber in my body wanted me to roar and smash everything within my reach. But that would’ve meant giving Ta’Zan the satisfaction of seeing how badly his actions were hurting me. “Now, let’s wait for Isda to come around. She will, soon enough. She’ll most likely have a message for us from Sofia.”

  Something told me that Sofia was going to insist that Rose and Ben keep doing what they were doing, and that they’d better not even consider surrendering. Aiden was right. My wife was ready to die, if it helped us beat Ta’Zan. Part of me completely understood that. I would’ve done the same.

  But, at the same time, my very soul cried.

  Harper

  From where we stood, it didn’t look good for any of us.

  Ta’Zan had put us all in a tight hold: surrender, or lose our matriarch, the woman who had helped transform The Shade and develop GASP. Great-Grandma Sofia’s contributions were obvious wherever we looked; even across three different dimensions. Her choices, her determination, and her wisdom had helped the Novak family grow into what it was today. And I was damn proud to be a part of it.

  So, no. None of us were ready to accept either outcome.

  “Ben and Rose can’t just give up, and Sofia can’t die,” I said firmly.

  I stood at the end of the council table. The meeting room suddenly felt too small. Aida and Field had called an emergency meeting shortly after Rose told us about Ta’Zan’s actions. Scarlett and Patrik, Blaze and Caia, Arwen and Brock, Mona and Kiev, Shayla and Eli, Phoenix and Viola, Bastien, the Daughters, and the four Perfects were present, seated around the table.

  At the other end, Sherus and Nuriya, Caleb and River, and Ash and Ruby had joined us. Amelia Novalik, Erik and Abby’s daughter, was also present. During the Eritopian time-lapse, while Serena, Aida, Jovi and the others were battling Azazel, Hazel and Tejus, Victoria and Bastien, and Grace and Lawrence had not been the only ones to have kids. Erik and Abby had a child of their own, though they kept her in The Shade most of the time. We didn’t see her much until she turned twenty and applied to be in GASP’s intelligence department. However, Sofia and Derek stayed close to the Novaliks during Amelia’s development, since Abby had asked them to be her godparents.

  I’d asked for Amelia to attend this meeting, since she’d become a key figure in GASP’s intelligence work over the past couple of years. Amelia was exceptionally intelligent and able to process everything on a level and at a speed most of us only dreamed of. I trusted her to see anything that we might’ve missed. Plus, she was close to Sofia—after all, the Hudsons had been a big part of Sofia’s life while growing up, and Sofia was her godmother.

  The atmosphere was gloomy, to say the least. My heart was constantly racing toward a finish line that never came, as I thought of Serena and Draven stuck there, on Strava, looking at a potential surrender. I just couldn’t have that.

  “We need to look at the problem from every possible angle,” Caspian replied, softly squeezing my hand. I caved in and sat back down next to him, while Field took the lead on the meeting. We had a lot to talk about.

  “Caspian is right,” Field said, then pressed a button on a remote. Behind him, the massive screen lit up with a live feed of Strava, on two different windows—one overlooking the planet, and the other giving us a bird’s eye view of the mountain where Rose’s crew had taken refuge. “We’ve made incredible progress, despite Ta’Zan’s bloody request.”

  Aida nodded. “We’ve got Amal and Amane ready to work on the mass memory wiper, and we didn’t even know that Amal was playing the long con on Ta’Zan to begin with,” she said. “The Hermessi reached out to us, they told us they can help, and they gave us their terms, which, by the way, I think are manageable.”

  “Yeah, seven hundred and forty-two fae,” Bastien muttered. “Easy peasy.”

  “We’ll provide the number,” Sherus declared. “If that’s what it takes to activate these entities and help put Ta’Zan back in his place, we’ll give you what you need.”

  “We’ll do whatever it takes to get our son back unharmed,” Nuriya added, her lower lip trembling.

  Mom and Dad were helping Jeremiah, Pippa, Grace, and Lawrence handle Shade issues back on Earth. Victoria was busy with little Voss and Vita, who was dangerously close to her due date and temporarily without a husband. I dreaded having to tell her about Ta’Zan’s ultimatum, since either outcome would kill someone she loved dearly.

  Between the people we had here, there had to be enough brilliant minds to figure a way out of this hot mess. We’d been through enough already. We’d jumped over so many hurdles. We’d lost enough. This couldn’t be the end of it all.

  Caspian and I were just getting started. We deserved a life together, and I hadn’t nearly died on Neraka to end up a Perfect’s slave. Screw that!

  “Okay, so, we’ve got the fae, then,” Aida said, nodding slowly. “We need to get them to Strava without the Perfects intervening. We’ll use the smallest shuttle we have that can fit them all, but it won’t guarantee a safe entry.”

  Mona sighed. “We need a diversion,” she answered. “Specifically, our ground crew there needs to organize a diversion.”

  “I agree. A multi-directional diversion, to be specific,” Amelia interjected politely. “With a red herring, too. The Perfects are highly functional. They won’t be easy to distract.”

  “Our people are aware,” Caleb said. “They’re currently working on a plan. Rose will be in touch as soon as they have all the details nailed down. There’s no room for errors here.”

  “You can say that again,” Kiev retorted, crossing his arms. “We’ve got what, maybe ten hours till that maniac kills Sofia?”

  “Approximately, yes,” River said. “We can’t let them carry the whole burden, anyway. We have to do something on our end, as well.”

  “That was always implied,” Arwen cut in, then nodded at Nathaniel, Uriel, Angelica, and Deena, who’d geared up in GASP uniforms and were eager to help out. “These four are ready to go to Strava and assist Ben and Rose.”

  All of a sudden, all eyes were on the four Perfects, who gave us faint and nervous smiles in return. I knew they were genuine in their endeavor to assist us. I’d had my eyes on their emotions from the moment they’d been introduced to us, post-memory-chip-removal.

  “What are we thinking?” Ruby asked.

  “We’ve gone through all the video footage in our memories,” Nathaniel said. “We’ve got enough knowledge to go back there and infiltrate the colosseum. From what we’ve learned, Ta’Zan doesn’t keep count of who’s missing among his soldiers.”

 
“Unless it’s his precious Douma or Raphael, for whatever reason,” Uriel added. “He’s got a soft spot for those two. We were witness to more than one instance in which they got preferential treatment.”

  Angelica rolled her eyes. “Even Araquiel didn’t get that much love while Douma and Raphael were still around.”

  Bastien cleared his throat, demanding our attention. The darkness weighing on his shoulders seemed almost impossible to bear, but he carried it with his typical stubborn stoicism.

  “What’s the plan, once you infiltrate the colosseum?” he asked.

  “That depends on what Ben and Rose’s crew needs from us,” Nathaniel replied. “We’ll be ready for anything.”

  Amelia raised a hand, drawing the focus back to her for a moment. “We need to make sure the fae land somewhere relatively safe. I doubt their proximity to Rose’s crew matters. The Hermessi said they need one thousand and one fae to set foot on Strava, no more, no less. It doesn’t matter if they’re huddled together or miles apart.”

  “I’m inclined to agree,” Mona replied. “The winter-summer cluster would be ideal, perhaps at least fifty miles from Merinos, just to be safe.”

  Kiev nodded. “If we keep the Perfects busy with something big enough in the archipelago, they won’t notice the fae coming in, or, if they do, they won’t be able to intercept them.”

  “And by big enough we mean epic, right?” Scarlett asked, smirking.

  The Perfects nodded simultaneously. “Like I said, whatever Ben and Rose’s crew needs, we’ll help,” Nathaniel answered. “But we have to know exactly what they’re planning, so we can organize ourselves accordingly.”

  Bastien let a deep sigh roll out of his chest. “I find it ironic that we’ve wound up relying on Perfects and Faulties, the very ones that helped get us into this mess, to save us.”

  “We didn’t ask for this,” Uriel said, slightly offended. “We didn’t ask to be made. We didn’t have a say in how we were educated and manipulated. You must understand, we’re not inherently bad. We don’t want anyone to suffer!”

  “Your maker has imprisoned my in-laws and my son! They have shock collars around their necks, and if we don’t stop Ta’Zan, we’ll all end up like them, or dead!” Bastien snarled.

  Safira stood, frowning. “Bastien. I understand your anger. I do. But they didn’t cause this. Focus your rage on what we can do, not on what already happened. We cannot change that.”

  Silence settled over the meeting room for a good minute, while we all stared at each other, and Bastien reassessed his emotional state. He didn’t like being this way. I could tell he was frustrated, but he wasn’t the only one whose emotions were getting the best of him.

  “I don’t want to see my father wither away in that diamond dome,” Blaze mumbled, his eyes fixed on the large screen behind Field. “That’s not a life for a dragon.”

  “We still have some advantages,” Field said. “Let’s wait for Ben and Rose to communicate their detailed plan, then operate accordingly. In the meantime, we’ll all prepare for anything. They need our eyes up here, while they operate down there.”

  Nathaniel, Uriel, Deena, and Angelica got up.

  “We’ll get ready,” Nathaniel replied. “We’ll gear up and make sure we’ve got a shuttle ready.”

  “I’ll send word for the seven hundred and forty-two fae,” Sherus added. “You’ll have them all here within the hour.”

  Shayla smiled. “Arwen and I will secure their transport from the fire star, don’t worry.”

  “I’m sorry we can’t do more for Strava,” Safira said, her shoulders dropping. “Our powers decrease as soon as we leave Eritopia, and, based on what magi-tech is being used by Ta’Zan, we wouldn’t make much of a difference down there.”

  “You can help us here, instead,” Phoenix replied. “Eritopia still needs you.”

  That was painfully true. With everything that was going on out there on Strava, we still had our worlds to take care of—kingdoms to run, armies to prepare, billions of innocent creatures to protect. Most importantly, in the event of Ta’Zan succeeding in his attempt to take flight, we had an unwinnable war to prepare for.

  “Is it too soon to discuss complete annihilation of Strava, just to get it over with?” Eli asked, prompting Shayla to suck in a breath and scowl at him. “What? We’re all thinking it!”

  “We could’ve done that sooner,” Bastien answered. “But we chose to give that planet and its people a chance. Despite my doubts, the Perfects have proven to be reliable, provided that their minds and hearts are clean, as evidenced by our… friends, here,” he added, pointing at Nathaniel and his group. It was good to see Bastien coming around like this. “They deserve a shot at a good life. And let’s not forget the Faulties and the Draenir.”

  “We can’t let Ta’Zan win,” I said. “Whether he takes flight with his Perfects or gets them all killed in the destruction of their planet, he’ll still win, because he’ll either subjugate us or force us to commit genocide. That’s not what GASP is about, and we all know it. So, while I totally get that we’ve all thought about this, I still don’t think we should really consider destroying the whole planet.”

  Caleb sighed. “Besides, Sofia would rather die than see another one of us fall prey to Ta’Zan. She’d rather get herself killed than let Ben and Rose’s crew wind up in the diamond dome.”

  On that, we all agreed. Our options seemed limited, and we weren’t ready to lose anyone else. But, at the same time, we were all determined to do more, to find another way in, and to stop Ta’Zan, once and for all.

  In my heart, I knew we could rely on Nathaniel, Uriel, Angelica, and Deena to help us. Bastien was right. As ironic as it was, the very creatures that had been trying to capture or kill us were now the ones fighting by our side. All we needed was a plan from Rose and Ben.

  Rose

  “Well, we’ve got a doozy on our hands,” Varga quipped.

  We’d settled on the cave’s black floor, in front of a chalk-drawn map of Ta’Zan’s archipelago. We always had chalk in our bags, in case we needed it for spells, just like we carried lighters in our pockets, in case our fae needed the extra fire.

  My stomach ached, and I had trouble breathing as I thought about Mom. Ta’Zan was perfectly capable of killing her, unless we found a way to stop him without giving up on everything we’d done so far. Thankfully, our new friends and allies had helped me see clearly, when all I wanted was to curl up in a ball and never get up.

  “That’s one way of putting it,” Elonora replied, wearing a bitter smile.

  Maybe we would’ve found the courage to keep going with our initial plan, if Ta’Zan’s next kill weren’t going to be my mother. But, then again, it could be Hunter’s mother next. Or his dad. Or Jovi. Or Jax. Whoever Ta’Zan picked to kill in order to get us to surrender—it was bound to be someone we loved or were close to. We’d bonded with so many worlds, so many different kingdoms, already.

  But Raphael led the way toward a brighter path, despite Ta’Zan’s ultimatum.

  “We’re going to get ourselves killed,” Ridan muttered, still uneasy about the Perfect’s plan. “It’s beyond crazy. It’s potentially suicidal.”

  “Hey, Sparky, it’s either this, or Sofia dies. And I’m pretty sure none of us want to concede right now,” Raphael said.

  We’d spent the past hour discussing Raphael’s suggestion. The plan we hatched made sense, but it was insanely risky. It bought us the time we needed, and it gave us the opportunity to use the aces up our sleeves. This wasn’t the end. On the contrary, to me, it felt like the very beginning of what would eventually become Ta’Zan’s downfall.

  But to get there, we had to be smart, cunning, and ruthless, just like him.

  I let out an audible sigh. “Are we ready to share the plan with the others?” I asked. “Dad is broiling by now, and for good reason. We need Calliope on the line, too, like we agreed.”

  Everyone around me nodded in agreement. We were all on the same pag
e.

  “Okay, so, we’re doing this,” I murmured, then pressed the call button on my earpiece. “Dad? Harper? Are you there?”

  I stared at my brother as I waited for a reply. Ben had been through enough already. He deserved some peace and quiet, not running around on a foreign planet, trying to save our parents and the others in our extended family. Hell, I looked forward to an actual holiday with Caleb, once this was all over. Provided we made it out alive.

  “Rose, honey?” My dad’s voice came through.

  “I’m here, Grandma,” Harper answered. “We’ve got the executive council, Sherus and Nuriya, Ash and Ruby, and the Perfects here, too. Talk to us!”

  I looked at my mixed crew again. Those of us with earpieces could hear them as well, since this conversation was taking place on the common channel. It was time to lay out the plan—the only way in which we could save my mother without forfeiting our mission, or the universe.

  “We’ve got a plan,” I said. “Some of you might not like it, but it has to be done. Sorry, Caleb...”

  “Babe, I trust you. Whatever you do,” my husband replied gently.

  “Good. So, we’re going to surrender.” I sighed.

  I heard gasps somewhere in the background, most likely from my side of the family. Voices broke through, but Harper was quick to shush them. “Hold on!” she snapped. “Let her speak!”

  “We’ll try to keep it to the original crew, Ben’s and mine, to be specific,” I added. “It’ll be me, Ben, Ridan, Dmitri, Varga, Zeriel and Vesta, Hunter and Kailani, and Nevis and Elonora. To stop Ta’Zan from further threats or malicious acts, Douma, Raphael, and Amane will surrender, too. Amal will come with us, under the guise of being our prisoner. Ta’Zan has no idea that she’s been on our side this whole time.”

  My dad coughed. “Yeah, we had no idea either.”

  Amal gave me an apologetic shrug and mouthed an “I’m sorry.”