Bone Dust & Beginnings (Alexa's Travels Book 1) (5 page)

More doves fluttered down, surrounding the group, and the kids lifted happy arms covered with the old symbols of peace.

Alexa pointed toward the trees that held the freshly beaten path of those who’d fled, and a large split of the birds took flight. They surged toward the woods, and Edward had little doubt they were headed for the other children.

He started to ask what the doves were for, but the sound of engines had his gun rising in defense.
“Company!
From the South!”

Alexa looked at the twin girls huddling by her feet. She didn’t speak, but they both nodded shakily.

“Yes, we will, and we thank you for the Honor.”

Alexa’s tone was gentle. “As best you can stand.”

The girls stood up, and Edward knew to move out of their way as a large group of jeeps and trucks came into view from the south. They rolled up the winding drive with men checking their guns, getting set to open fire…

Alexa stood behind the twins, face impassive to the threat. “You are of age. Take your place among my Father’s army.”

Both girls had tears running down their cheeks, but Edward wasn’t sure if it was joy or pain that caused it. Their hands tightened on each other, and small blue flickers of magic shot into the air, merging with the gritty sky.

“Barrier!”

The twins screamed it simultaneously, and Edward flinch back as a vivid bolt of lightening forked across the roiling clouds above them. Ahead, the huge convoy of soldiers hurried closer, gaining speed...

There was nothing to stop the vehicles that Edward could see, but half a mile before they reached the freed kids, the vehicles in the front of the convoy crashed violently into an invisible barrier.

There was no noise, no burning smell, but the explosions were immense. Flaming debris bounced off of the force field and sprayed the other jeeps that swerved to miss the wreckage.

Alexa placed a hand on each of the twins’ arms and the barrier lit up in a flash of white light that exploded over the soldiers. It grew blinding, forcing Edward’s eyes down. When looked back up, nothing moved on the other side of the now very visible barrier except smoke and fire.

Edward saw Alexa stumble to her knees and found himself at her side without a thought. “Are you okay?”

The twins had scrambled back anxiously, but his concern for Alexa was obvious. They comforted him from a few feet away.

“She just needs to catch her breath.”

Their double timbre made him look up. “You’re sure?”

To his surprise, they both giggled. The sound floated over the huddling children, telling them the trouble was over.

“She is the Alpha female.”

As if that explained it, they turned from him and moved back toward the bunker. Many of the other children followed, and Edward’s face was confused. “Aren’t they going with us?”

Alexa slowly shook her head. “The doves will carry their messages. Until someone comes for them, they will live off of the compound’s supplies.”

“But to leave them here…”

Alexa waved at the smoky barrier, the wreckage, “Did you not see what they are capable of?”

“But without you…”

“They are safer.” Alexa pushed herself to her feet. “They were drugged before, threatened with each other’s pain. That is no longer a rule they will abide. I have freed them in the way that will allow them to survive.”

Meaning any soldiers that came would be killed by those who had already taken lives to get free.

“And when the big bunker sends men?”

Alexa shrugged. “Their first patrols will be wiped out if any of these kids still remain here. It will be months before anyone important knows what’s happened.”

Feeling better about their future, Edward had to ask one last question, had to know. “And those who have no one to come for them?”

Her tone said she wanted the job, but it wasn’t supposed to be hers. “They’ll find a family, if they think they need one, but these children are not human as you know the word. From a young age, they are left to fend for themselves. They sometimes find their parent after reaching legal age, but because of government trackers, it’s not safe for them to have families before then. It’s how many of these were captured. They’ll stay low and wait.”

“Wait for what?”

Alexa turned toward the bunker without answering, but it sent her thoughts straight to the reason she now existed. These kids and hundreds more like them were waiting for a place where the light of peace would let them grow in protection and guidance. That place was Safe Haven and that leader, was her father. Adrian had no idea so many like them existed. If he had, he never would have left. She had to find Safe Haven. It was time for him to come home.

4

They spent the night in the bunker with the kids.

There were roughly three dozen who hadn’t fled, ages ten to fifteen, and while they didn’t avoid each other, it was clear they weren’t a close group. They didn’t talk or joke like normal kids, but they didn’t fight either, and the cleanup of the ground floor was done without anyone ordering it. The bodies were dragged outside, the blood scrubbed up, and the food served. Injured kids were placed on cots near the door to be grabbed quickly if they needed to run, and all the while, Alexa spent time with them.

Not normal time of comfort and encouragement, it was more like a line of subjects waiting to see the King. They sat in a small circle around her, and she answered each one of their requests in a tone that held Edward mesmerized. She had no intentions of staying to care for them or even getting
them
settled somewhere, and yet these kids acted like she was their savior. What was he missing?

“She’s an Alpha.”

It came from the twins and was spoken in an arrogant tone that said he knew nothing about the quest he’d joined.

Edward gave a soft snort.
“Clearly.
Is it okay to ask?”

The twins turned eyes to Alexa, who looked up, and then nodded. She went back to the current child’s request to learn fire-making, and the twins gestured toward a quieter area in the corner. Edward followed slowly.

“An Alpha is a direct descendant of Christ.”

Edward blinked at the name… and then frowned. “Some joke.”

The Twins were clearly used to that response. “The War came because someone found out the governments always knew. It had to be covered up.”

Edward was shaking his head. “The War of 2012 was a terrorist…”

“No!”

The silent double shout shut his mouth and opened his ears. The pain that their anger caused was like the nauseating jab of a headache, and he vowed not to experience it again.

“Descendants of the Master have been hunted throughout history. They’ve given birth to Oil Barons, Presidents, and death with a human face. To keep control and achieve their own ends, they destroyed the world.”

Edward felt the truth behind it (how could he not with those blazing voices in his head?), but his heart still protested such complete betrayal. “That can’t be.”

Other kids had come to their table, listening to both the spoken and mental words, and the Twins looked around. Edward got the sense it was as painful for them to say as it was for him to hear.

“They could have stopped the fighting and death at any time. All they had to do was bring us together with an Alpha.”

Forgetting his protest in eagerness to know more about Alexa, he leaned forward. ”Like what you did today with her?”

“That was a very small show of what we can do together. It’s why they don’t usually keep us in the same place.”

“Usually?”

“Sometimes they have one in the room with us… when we’re doing things.”

“So it’s stronger?” he asked, drawn into the mystery of it.

The Twins scowled, causing him to lean quickly back.

“So the Alphas don’t kill them all like we’ve done here today. They remind us constantly that they hold others like us across the world and a rebellion would cause their deaths.”

“As it may now that we’ve risen up.”

It was a low mutter from one of the other kids at their table, and the twins turned furious eyes toward the older boy. “The Alpha ordered it. You will not question!”

The taller teenager bowed his head immediately at the reprimand, “My sorry!”

Edward was in shock, but not so much that his brain had ceased to make connections. “You two are Alphas.”

The twins didn’t sound as young anymore as they looked back at him with their fiery eyes. “We are Betas. We serve the Alpha when we come of age. Usually mental gifts like ours only come then, but
She
chose to give them to us early for our wisdom.”

And your help
, Edward thought, forgetting.

Both twins gave a scornful grunt. “She did not need the help of untrained children. She chose to give us justice.” They turned toward Alexa simultaneously. “And we are honored.”

Edward sat back, trying to soak it all in. After what he’d seen today, it was hard to deny. His mind wanted to insist, but that wasn’t the way things were in this new world. These sudden, brutal changes had come to this land so fast, it was hard to adjust… but he’d be with Alexa. He stiffened. Alexa was an Alpha. Could she read his mind, too?

As soon as he had the thought, she looked over at him and raised a brow.
Will that be a problem?

He flushed, shaking is head. No. After all this, it would take more than mindreading to get rid of him.

The twins giggled at the exchange. “That’s also because she’s an Alpha.”

“Mindreading?”

They laughed again, words much too old for their small bodies.
“The attraction.
Alphas are meant to bring people together.”

“Like the world would need after an apocalypse…” he murmured, eyes returning to Alexa. “Is that her job?”

The Twins clearly knew, but a quick look from the warrior woman held them silent. Whatever the answer was, she didn’t want him to know. Edward switched his line of questioning.

“Will you guys be all right here? Do you have anything you need done before we go?”

“We will fend for ourselves.”

It was a curt response, and he understood that freedom meant a great deal to these abused kids. He didn’t want to believe the government had held them hostage based on their DNA, had sacrificed the world to keep control of their discovery. Why would they deny the world peace to keep the hate alive?

“Because peace comes with no tangible power.
They cannot use it to line their pockets or increase their importance,” Alexa stated, moving their way. “To create a perfect weapon though, that is control in endless amounts.”

Edward nodded in acceptance. It fit together too well for it to be anything but the truth. He’d scorned the rumors before and stood in loyal defense of his country, but he’d been blind. His faith in America was unfounded.

“Not so. Your faith in its leaders was unfounded, but you haven’t had that for a while now, anyway,” Alexa informed him without mercy. “The ideal of freedom is one we support. This country was built on its blood and tears, and we shall shed both in our quest to see it survive.”

5

Morning came with sounds Edward hadn’t heard since childhood. Shouts, laughs, bangs and slams.
The kids are up.

He smiled at the thought. He wasn’t fond of children, but those twins were handy. When bedtime came, all they’d done was send a calm look around, and the room had been deserted in seconds. He assumed the others didn’t mind following, but he wasn’t sure either. The Alpha bond was something he guessed you had to feel to understand. He certainly didn’t, but after witnessing what these kids could do, he had accepted they were dangerous.

The government had known it, taking them one by one with heavy force, or breeding them in the labs so that some of these bright-eyed youngsters had never once seen the outside world. Even during the move to the new complex, they’d been knocked out to keep them from making any mental calls for help. Edward assumed the bunkers were lined with something that kept their calls in, but hadn’t thought to ask last night.

Being here, in a government complex again, should have been a nightmare for him. Instead, it had been enlightening and powerful. When they left, it would be hard to walk away. How had Alexa been able to do it?

He thought about the Twins saying she hadn’t really needed their help; she’d been giving them justice. If that were true, then she hadn’t needed his help either. Why hadn’t she set them free before? And why had she come for him first if she didn’t need the help?

Those were the questions he asked as soon as he slid onto the bench across from her. He waited while a quick look from her cleared the table.

Alexa’s tone was even.
“Only once more.”

He nodded, understanding his own training was about to really begin. There would be no open questioning after this.

“When they keep us drugged, we get very weak. Calls have no strength to penetrate walls, fire only flickers. On medication, they can control our gifts in mild doses. Between experiments, we are put back to sleep. When I escaped, my condition was the worst it’s ever been. I needed time to regain my mental clarity… and energy from a willing source.”