Grounding Gracus (First Wave Book 6) (17 page)

He bowed his head regally. “Thank you. I apologize for my confusion, normally we are treated as an afterthought, or useful pet. I am not used to being treated as one of the team,” Gibly said before he quietly lapped some water.

Rebecca glared at Gracus, who just shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t have much to do with the cats up to this point other than dodging them through the corridors of the Adaria. So he had no idea if there were problems with the way the cats were being treated in the field.

When Gracus didn’t offer any explanations, Rebecca turned to Gibly. “You saved our lives. If you hadn’t warned us of… that thing, he could have killed us. To me, that makes you more than an equal, but also a friend. My friends eat with me and deserve respect. I’m glad you’re here,” Rebecca said softly to the cat.

He purred loudly until he gained control of himself and nodded. “Thank you… my friend.”

They spent the rest of the meal in silence, listening to the eerie quiet all around them. Rebecca couldn’t help but think of a popular zombie movie, set in a place just like this, only underground. Zombies weren’t something she believed in, but until the other day she didn’t believe in gorgeous aliens and talking cats either.

Even the crazy bug in her head was quiet. Once they’d searched the facility, the bug had informed her that it needed to rest so that it could be alert while she slept. She had cheered the return of the silence in her mind. However, it only last about an hour before she actually missed the damn thing! How the hell that had happened, she’d never know. But, somehow the damn thing had gotten under her skin.

Once they finished the meal and had cleaned up the dishes in the sink, they moved into the largest of the bedrooms they’d found. The bed was definitely a custom made one, which was larger than a king. Easily big enough to hold all three of them. There was also a small sitting area to one side and Rebecca went to sit in one of the chairs, followed by Gracus.

Gibly was the last in the room and he stood at the door until Rebecca said, “Gibly, you need to take first sleep with Gracus. I’ll wake you guys in…”

“No,” Gracus said, interrupting her. “My beast sleeps as yours does. Gibly can rest now and I will remain awake with you. When Gibly awakens, he can keep watch with Clatz and Lanze,” Gracus said.

Rebecca shrugged, secretly glad that Gracus would stay awake with her and sleep with her. She tried not to think of what she’d like to do in that big bed with him and instead, turned back to Gibly.

“You can talk to the beasts, right? So you won’t be alone?” Rebecca asked, not wanting Gibly to be alone on watch duty.
That’d be too damn creepy
, she thought.

Gibly nodded his head and laid down on the floor by the door. “I can speak freely with the beasts without your knowledge,” he said with a small smile on his face.

Rebecca snorted. “Then what the hell are you doing on the cold floor? Get in the bed and get some sleep!” Rebecca said, making shooing motions towards the bed with her hands.

When he still didn’t move, she went to the bed and patted the blanket on the end of it. Suddenly, an image appeared of Fiorn, sitting on the end of the bed with his head in his hands.

“I will not fail our children! I will not fail!” Fiorn said, pulling his hands from his head as he shouted at the ceiling.

Rebecca yanked her hand back from the bed as Gracus stood and pulled her away from it. Gibly jumped up on the bed where she’d patted it and curled up into a small ball, where the image of Fiorn had sat only moments before.

“Thank you, friend,” Gibly said, before he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Rebecca smiled at the beautiful and amazing cat, tempted to pet his soft fur. She wouldn’t do it though. Not without his permission. Unwilling to talk out loud and wake the obviously exhausted cat, she spoke to Gracus through the Shengari’.

“Why do you treat them so badly?” she asked.

Gracus was startled at the question. “What do you mean? I don’t treat them badly, I only see them running through the halls on my ship! This is the first time I’ve actually worked with one of them!”

Rebecca snorted. “Someone isn’t respecting them. You can tell that it bothers him. If it bothers him, then it’s bothering his people. It’s obvious he’s a leader, his people will take their cue from him. I can’t believe you guys, as advanced as you are, can’t see how amazing they are and yet how depressed he seems. It’s like you take them for granted and treat them as pets at the same time. Your people suck.”

Gracus’s eyebrows flew up and he looked at her in shock. “How the hell do you get all that from spending a few hours with him? They are treated very well! Special care is taken in their health and their need to roam and be stimulated,” Gracus said, thinking of the different areas that had been modified specifically for the needs of the cats on the ship and the animal doctors that were specially trained in the care and health of them.

Rebecca folded her arms across her chest and drew her feet into the seat of the chair. “Can’t you feel it in his energy? Even in his sleep he is unsettled,” Rebecca said, unwilling to give up on making at least Gracus see how the cat was feeling.

Gracus looked doubtful and was even less sure that he could sift the energy of the cat. He’d never tried before. Hell, he’d had no reason to. Seeing the disappointed look on Rebecca’s face though, made him try.

He not only could do it, he was stunned at what he felt. The slumbering cat was much more open than he would normally be and Gracus was flooded with feelings of uselessness, doubt, depression and even sadness. He was shocked and quickly dropped the energy strands that he’d been sifting through.

Rebecca sniffed. “See. You guys are breaking their spirits. You should be ashamed of yourselves,” Rebecca said, unknowingly sending loving energy to the cat. With the massive overload she was being flooded with, she never even noticed the loss.

Gracus was speechless. He couldn’t deny it, he’d felt it in Gibly’s energy and knew Rebecca was right. How no one else had noticed, he didn’t know, but something had to change. The cats had come to help them. They’d left their planet and people behind to help them and they deserved to be treated better.

Gracus had heard the tales from the planet of the cats saving their children and even humans. He’d read the reports of the few who’d gone on missions and had been heroic in their actions. But, he could also clearly remember the times that he’d passed one of the cats in the corridor and completely ignored the creature while greeting the Valendran next to the cat. He also knew that was the way most of the personnel dealt with the cats. They ignored them.

Gracus looked at Gibly and nodded his head sadly. “You’re right. We suck,” he admitted, vowing to change the way he dealt with the animals. They deserved better than this if they were willing to give their lives for the Valendrans and hybrids. And Gracus had no doubt that they would.

Rebecca smiled softly. “You can still fix it. He’s very loving and forgiving. If he is, I bet his people are too.”

Gracus nodded, already working out the main people he would speak to about it when they got out of this place. “I plan on fixing it,” he said, before he changed the subject.

“How is your energy?” he asked.

Rebecca could feel it surging through her veins so strongly that she could actually hear it like the roar of the ocean in a seashell, but didn’t think that was the answer he wanted to hear.

“It’s not bad. I think it’s just that I’m not used to all this energy stuff. Normal humans don’t have problems like this,” she said jokingly, hoping to head off a conversation about it.

Gracus snorted. “I can feel it bleeding from you. That is not normal. And why didn’t you get an image when you sat in the chair,” he asked curiously, just now realizing that she hadn’t, but she did when patting the bed. He was tempted to make her put on the gloves he knew she had, to prevent her from getting any more images.

Rebecca shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe nothing happened in this chair. All the images we’ve seen so far, have all had some sort of heavy emotional energy attached to it. Leading us to the cave was urgency, at the doors were loss, anger and celebration, the bed… despair.”

Gracus nodded. “It makes sense that it’s the emotional energy imbued in the item that you can see. But why have specific items, like the stones outside, lead you with specific messages and then have nothing else in here other than the random things inadvertently left behind? Why no more instructions or working communications?”

Rebecca sighed. She’d been wondering the same thing. She knew there was something that they were missing, but still couldn’t figure out what the hell it was. The one thing she did know, was that they were running out of time to figure it out.

Chapter Fifteen

Grai, Scaden and Niklosi had reached the trail leading up to the cave and they knew that there was a group of Relians ahead of them on the trail and a group that was following them. Grai kneeled down to the two cats that Gibly, had left with him when he went to help protect Rebecca and Gracus.

“I would like for you to get as close as you can and find out how many are up there waiting for us and where they are. Do not put yourself in danger if you can avoid it. When you get back, we will attack, as a team. Ok?” Grai asked the two cats.

Both sets of black eyes glittered and both heads nodded before the two cats took off up the trail. Grai stood and spoke to Scaden and Niklosi through the Shengari’, not wanting their voices to carry to the Relians on the trail ahead of them.

“We’ll follow slowly until the cats come back with intel,” Grai said while Scaden and Niklosi nodded and followed Grai up the path.

“Do you think they made it safely inside the cave? Will they be safe in there?” Scaden asked, worried for his friend and his mate.

Grai didn’t turn around as he responded. “I have no doubt they found the cave. The last we heard from Gracus, they’d found the entryway. I remember from the last time I was here, that there was something in the cave that disrupted my energy and prevented me from using the Shengari’. So the fact that we haven’t heard from him tells me they are inside and safe,” Grai said, hoping like hell that he was right.

“What exactly is in the cave?” Niklosi asked.

Grai shook his head. “It’s really hard to tell. Nothing is operational any longer and hasn’t been for a long time. It looks a lot like the silver mine we have in North Carolina. It has living quarters, a comm center, armory and MedLab. Basically, everything you would need for a hundred people or so to exist safely and quietly.”

Scaden shook his head. He’d seen the silver mine command center that Grai was referring to and was curious to see the cave. “How do you know Fiorn Erikson had something to do with the cave?”

Grai stopped for a second and listened for a sign the cats were returning, hearing nothing, he continued forward and answered Scaden’s question.

“In what looked like the commander’s quarters, his clan crest is engraved in the rock above the door and in the armory, there is a sword with an inscription bearing his name on the blade. When Luke and I got back to town, I searched the local archives and found Fiorn’s name in several old news articles relating to the man credited with turning most of this into a National Forest.”

Grai continued. “Apparently, Fiorn, spent a fortune funding the effort from the shadows. He spent a lot of time in this area and it makes sense that he would be looking for a safe haven for his people and the hybrid children,” Grai explained.

Scaden shook his head. “It really doesn’t surprise me that he might be alive. If anyone would have survived, it would be that tough bastard.”

The men stopped as the cats came flying back to them. Grai leaned down and let the leader of the two speak to him through the Shengari’ before he stood and looked up the trail.

“What did they see?” Niklosi asked, mentally checking his weapons to be sure he was ready for battle.

Grai turned to the two Valendrans. “There’s four up ahead. No dark ones. One of them is trying to gain access to the cave, the other three are waiting near the trail, up ahead.”

Scaden nodded, visualizing it in his mind. “How do you want to do this?” he asked.

Niklosi grinned. “I’m thinking some aerial fire power can handle it pretty easily.”

Grai shook his head. “We can’t take a chance that even our lightest weapons could destroy the entrance,” he said, thinking of the Relians up ahead and the ones he knew were coming up behind them. He would have loved to take care of it that easily.

Scaden just realized something. “Wait, why can’t they get in the cave?”

Grai grinned. “I was never able to figure out how, but the entrance will not open if you do not have Valendran blood in your veins. Luke could not get in without Rebecca opening the entrance for him. I was an anomaly that I think it had trouble with since I have both Valendran and Relian blood in my veins. Although, it would open for me.”

Scaden sighed. “So Gracus and Rebecca are safe inside.”

Grai nodded. “Yes, they are. Do you trust me?” Grai asked suddenly, surprising Scaden and Niklosi.

“Of course,” Niklosi said, while Scaden nodded.

Grai leaned down and spoke to the cats through the Shengari’ and stood as they took off back down the trail, towards the group of Relians that had followed them.

“What are we doing?” Scaden asked curiously.

Grai stood there and nodded towards where the cats had disappeared. “We’ll have this figured out when they get back.”

Minutes later the cats came back and Grai listened intently to the information before he nodded and stood. He looked at the two Valendrans and knew he’d have to put their trust to the test, but there was no way around it.

Grai looked at the two and grinned. “They will be upon us in a few minutes. I need you to stand there and not draw your weapons,” Grai said to their shock.

Scaden looked at Grai like he’d lost his mind. “We’re bait?” he asked incredulously.

Grai chuckled. “Someone is bait, but it isn’t us,” he said cryptically, while Niklosi shrugged and said, “I’m game.”

*****

Rebecca tried her best to sleep, but the energy running through her had her feeling like she’d drank a few pots of coffee. She didn’t want to sleep. She wanted to walk around and touch everything in this place, but she didn’t need her annoying brain bug to tell her that wasn’t a good idea.

Her spiking energy wasn’t being helped at all by the fact that Gracus was lying beside her on the big bed that Gibly had previously slept on. Luckily, when she’d laid on it, she’d had no more images pop up. She had actually been terrified that if she laid on it she’d end up seeing a sex scene with Fiorn and just the thought made her blush.

Suddenly, Gracus turned towards her until they were facing each other, their faces were mere inches from one another. His hazel eyes studied her intently, making her squirm inside. “What?” she asked.

“Your energy is too high for you to rest, isn’t it?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

Rebecca sighed and nodded, there was no point in lying when he could feel the truth rolling off of her in waves. Hell, even she could feel it shedding from her. She just couldn’t understand why there was still so much flowing through her if so much was bleeding from her.

Lanze sounded a little worried when he said, “There’s too much energy trapped in here that only you can sense. I can feel the remnants of the past beating at us and I don’t know how to stop it or slow it down.”

Gracus sighed. “We need to find a way out of here. I think whatever this place is made of, or whatever energy runs through here, is preventing you from releasing the energy you’re getting from the images in the objects around us. It’s feeding your energy, forcing you to bleed the excess which is then being fed into the images like an infinite loop.” Even though he knew they needed to get up and find an exit, he stayed where he was, looking into her beautiful eyes.

Rebecca nodded her head sadly. “Lanze and I have come to the same conclusion,” she said then grinned. “As crazy as that sounds.”

Gracus chuckled and gently moved a stray lock of hair from her cheek, tucking it behind her ear. “You aren’t seriously still thinking this isn’t real are you?”

Rebecca was stunned for a second at the roar in her energy when Gracus touched her, but quickly recovered. “I think it’s a little hard for me to deny it now, don’t you think? Besides, I don’t think hallucinations can last this long,” she said with a grin.

Rebecca stared at Gracus and was sure that he was going to kiss her, when Gibly jumped on the end of the bed. “You need to get up and move around to get rid of some of your energy if you can’t sleep,” Gibly said with a twitch of his poofy tail.

Poofy tail?
Rebecca wondered as she looked at the cat. “Gibly, why is your tail all poofed out like that?” she asked, sitting up quickly.

Gracus sat up and looked at the cat, barely controlling his laughter until Gibly turned a black glare his way. The cat turned to Rebecca with a sniff. “My people are more sensitive to the energy than the Valendrans, as the energy in here increases, the more it will build in each of us. Your fur is also standing on end, yours is just shorter and lighter than mine,” Gibly said, masking his own concern over the ever increasing energy ricocheting between Rebecca and the cave.

Gracus realized that Gibly was right, the tiny hairs all over his body were standing on end and it wiped the smile from his face instantly.
Fuck
, he thought as he jumped from the bed and held his hand out to Rebecca. He loved the fact that their energy bond had grown so rapidly that she didn’t even hesitate to take his hand. But, it didn’t do much to quell his fear for her.

Gracus pulled her from the bed and kept hold of her hand as he led them out of the room. When Gibly walked up beside him, Gracus turned to him. “Gibly, if you’re more sensitive to the energy, do you have any idea how we can slow it down? Or get out of here?”

Gibly shook his large black head. “This isn’t supposed to happen. It wouldn’t affect any other hybrid like this. Only those like Rebecca, whose gift is based on the ability to feel the energy of the past or future through the objects around them,” Gibly said wisely.

Rebecca stopped, causing Gracus and Gibly to stop as well. “Wait,” she said. “I can see the future too? How is that possible?”

Gibly grinned, his black eyes twinkling. “Energy is infinite. It has no past, present or future, therefore it can hold all of them within itself without conflict. Everything Rebecca touches, she pulls the energy of the past inside of her, but leaves the energy of us behind. For the future. That is what is creating the energy loop. This place is what is magnifying it.”

Rebecca didn’t quite understand it, but somehow the words felt right. “So how do I stop pulling the energy and leaving us behind?” she asked, the thought of someone like her, seeing her and Gracus in the future was a little disturbing.

Gibly’s tail twitched as he headed back down the hallway to the door that led to the comm center. Rebecca and Gracus followed as the cat spoke. “I don’t think you can. Not in here. Can’t you feel the energy of the planet throbbing through here like a heartbeat?” Gibly asked.

Gracus and Rebecca looked at each other and nodded their heads. It had been really hard to ignore once they had gotten close to the mountain. Rebecca had thought it was from all the running they had done to get there, but once they’d been walking for a while, she knew it wasn’t coming from her.

Gracus said, “Yes, we feel it. So this place is a
Shamatabala
?”

Gibly nodded his head and Gracus cursed, wishing he’d figured it out sooner. Rebecca just looked at them both strangely before she asked, “What the hell is a
Shamatabala
?”

Gracus put Rebecca behind him while he drew his weapon and opened the tunnel door leading to the main comm room. Seeing that they were still alone he let Gibly run inside while he and Rebecca followed more slowly.

Gracus looked around the empty room and said, “A Shamatabala is a main artery for the energy of the planet. I believe the humans call them ley lines. If this place is on a
Shamatabala
, then it’s magnifying your abilities exponentially. For other hybrids, this wouldn’t be a problem, for one like you that reads the energy, it is not good. But it does explain what is powering this place.”

Rebecca considered the ley lines, or Shamatabala as Gracus called it and knew that as strange as it sounded, he was probably right. She knew from her grandfather that major ley lines ran through these mountains. The only thing that surprised her was that she never really noticed it before.

Lanze interrupted her thoughts. “You did notice it before, but you attributed the increase in your energy, stamina and health as having a better night of sleep or another human excuse. Even dormant, I could feel it as well.”

Rebecca couldn’t help but wonder if that was why she’d always been drawn to these particular mountains. When she was a teenager, she’d even convinced her grandfather to change their normal route so that they could get closer to this area. At the time she’d been surprised that he had agreed. Now it made sense to her why he did.

Lanze verified it. “You were drawn to the energy, like most hybrids would be.”

Rebecca shook her head, barely understanding it all. “So, what does this all mean? What happens if we don’t get out and the energy keeps building?”

Gracus turned worried eyes to her, while a poofy Gibly answered, “We all go, ‘Pop’,” he said with a twitch of his whiskers.

Rebecca blinked and looked at the cat and Gracus stupidly for a second. “What do you mean, we go pop?”

Gibly just stared at Rebecca with his head cocked to the side. “Too much energy destroy us. Consume us. We die in a pop of energy,” he said calmly.

Rebecca laughed almost hysterically and Gracus came over and held her in his arms until she slowly calmed herself down. He nuzzled the top of her head with his chin and whispered, “We’ll get out of here long before that happens. In fact, Grai and the others should get here any time now and we’ll get out then.”