"So here's what I have so far
Bryn and Cam are with one of Noel's ancestors in Civil War era Kansas
We are actually all descendants of the original Dusk members
We all have indications, but Bryn and Cam are the only people with a Dusk descendant
We all have spiders, possible cause of Yaotl descendant??
Am I missing anything?" Jacob asked, with a virtual white board that was portrayed to the rest of the team.
"The house spider somehow killed Henry Hackett." Bryn responded.
He added it to the list.
"Why is it called a house spider, again?" Connor asked. "Sorry, all of these spider names are confusing."
"Here I'll make another list."
"hERe, i'Ll maKE aNotHeR lISt," I mocked.
"Shut up," Jacob responded. He moved his hands in a writing motion and the words began to show up on the screen.
Abnormally large black widow (?) comes from thick boreal forest [Andie and Drew]. Dubbed name: the northern black widow
Ritualistic dancing cult spiders in Madagascar [Noel and Ben]. Dubbed name: the dancing arachnids
Abnormally large trapdoor spider found living in abandoned townhome; possible predator to humans [Cam and Bryn]. Dubbed name: house spider
Arachnids that can change shape, size, and other unknown ways of camouflage in the Saharan desert, circa Libya [Sam and Connor]. Dubbed names: shapeshifting spiders
Spiders that can regenerate and are virtually immortal in Polynesia [Jacob and Ember]. Prey on mammals. Dubbed names: immortal imbeciles
"There. That ought to do it," Jacob affirmed, looking around at the holograms outside on the rock.
"Jacob, full offense, but those dubbed names are stupid," Bryn scoffed.
"Hey!"
"Hey. We need to find out what's going on." Connor said, running his fingers through his curls. He'd better not run them out too much before we get back.
"Have you seen Andie yet, Drew?" Ben asked.
"No," he responded in a small voice.
"And no one's found another way out yet?"
A chorus of nos surrounded.
"Well, then. If no one has any other theories or new information for the good of the team, then I suggest we adjourn." Jacob sighed, reluctant. He hates the constant uncertainty, but performs quite well under the stress. There's not really backlash about him (or Noel) being leader, for that matter, since we know him to be calm and collected.
"Where's Maverick been?" I asked.
"Wait... good question. Usually they're tracking us. If we leave the assigned property without notifying them they'll call in within 24 hours." Sam responded.
"As far as I'm concerned, he hasn't called any of us." Cam offered.
"That's suspicious." I nodded.
"Maybe the government can't -or won't- reach us here. Do they know something we don't?" Noel asked.
"If that's the case, then we need to get off ASAP. Someone could be listening in, or trying to distract us and attack when our guard is down." Bryn replied.
"Okay. Bye everyone. Keep in touch, and call a meeting specific to partner, gender, leader, or team as you see fit."
EMBER MARTINI left the call.
"Now what?" I asked, defeated. I pulled my voluminous red hair into a ponytail for the third time that day. Don't judge me- it's hot and I'm stressed.
"I don't know. I guess we can ask for guidance from the elders. Isn't that in a few minutes?"
"Yeah."
We trekked our way back to the camp, away from the black, cooled lava we were standing on to get privacy. The natives have been incredibly kind to us here, and I'm so thankful.
"Ugh, not more of these," I complained, kicking piles of spiders away from where we were stepping. "They're so annoying."
The spiders were running frantically in clumps, congregating outside the camp as we waded through them.
"Ember. Jacob. Please, come inside. We need to speak with you," An older man gestured to a tent, and addressed us as equals.
"Thank you sir," we both responded.
"Sit here."
"Thank you for having us," Jacob said, using his Leadership Voice and addressing the council. "Your help has been extremely beneficial to us already."
"Of course. Our people promote hospitality," The leader said, centered in the line of members.
"What guidance can you give us to get us back to where we came?"
"We need to talk to you about Omõro." A council woman replied.
"How do you-"
"He was one of us, actually. His name was Konala." The oldest member spoke. I heard he hasn't spoken since the Great Tragedy. Whatever that is.
"Sir, are you sure you don't want one of us to retell it?"
He silenced her with a slow hand motion.
"I am the only one of us who was close to him." The eldest turned to face us. "Konala was my grandson. When he was 16, he ran away with a visiting Portuguesean, Maria, to start a new life in Cuba. 20 years later, I got wind that his street name was Omõro Benguela, and he committed horrible crimes under that pseudonym. He is a disgrace to our people, and I vowed to never speak again after the incident. However, I believe you need help, and you need to bring justice to my grandson."
"How would you like us to go about that, sir?" I asked, confused.
"Well. The man my daughter married... I didn't approve of him. I know he came from South America, but I can't tell you where." At this moment, an older council member to the left of him bowed her head in shame.
"He came, helped her raise Konala until he was 5 or 6, and then left. He literally vanished." I opened my mouth to interrupt, but he silenced me. "He killed a spider. He had powers, Jacob and Ember. The man killed an immortal spider, and he vanished. Since then, the spider community has become chaotic clumps that surround our land, as you've seen. If you can wipe out a spider, maybe you can leave."
"Sir, our powers are earth and wind, respectively. And turning into amphibians and birds. Is there a specific way to go about this?"
"No. Do as you wish. But take all of your gear with you, in case you vanish like him."
"Thank you for your time, council," I said graciously, trying to hide a stunned tone. "We are forever in your debt."
At that, we briskly left the large tent, and headed towards the border of the town, where the spider-clumps were. The closer we walked to them, the more frantic they became. I wonder if they can sense our powers.
"So..." I started, rocking on my heels as I looked at the clumps. "How do you want to go about this?"
"Well... we could always drown them if you make a rock prison."
"It takes too long. One hour is the minimum, and neither of us can manipulate water. And we can't stomp on one either, since they're invincible to crushing."
"We can't encapsulate it with water and just leave it? Go get a snack or something?"
"No. It needs to be immediate... I want to get out of here."
Jacob looked at the spider clumps, and then back at me.
"I've... been practicing something in training. I don't want to use it, but if it helps us, then I'll do whatever it takes."
"Aw, come on, Jacob," I slugged his arm. "You act like you're medieval torturing someone. It's one spider, and we're probably going to give it a quick death. No suffering." He stayed silent. "Jacob?" I asked with a more serious tone. I touched his arm and he looked at me. "What have you been practicing?"
"I can control air."
"Right you are, bucko."
"That means I can manipulate oxygen from someone."
"Wow, good job, you passed training level three."
"Em, I can suffocate a spider. Or anything. I can take oxygen atoms from their body one by one. And eventually, they don't have enough oxygen to live. Who gave me the right to do that? Who am I, an 18 year old, who can just... take the life from someone and make them suffer?"
"No one gave you the right, Jake. But, having the power comes with having the responsibility. And clearly, you have it. Because you're worried about killing a spider, for heaven's sake. You care. And you're a good person. You're well versed in your training and you use your powers responsibly, especially the more dangerous aspects of it. We all struggle with it. Andie can switch off someone's neurons. Connor can flood the lungs of someone. Drew can raise the body temperature of someone and denature their proteins. There are countless ways we can hurt people with our powers. The difference between us and the Benguelas is we use our powers to help people, and refrain from killing and torturing as much as possible. Don't beat yourself up for this- it's better you're aware of your powers and know how to control them, instead of you ignoring them completely and having them wildly untamed."
"You're right. I'm sorry. Let's kill this thing and be done."
"Hey. Don't beat yourself up over it."
"I won't. Besides, I'm still better than you and Connor, anyway."
"HA! In your dreams," I shoved him. He looked down at a spider clump, and using a short breath of air, moved a singular one away from the group. As soon as it was out, it started coming toward us. I create a small rock arena around the spider, leaving the top open for Jacob to kill it. He watched the spider intently, and then with a slight move of his hand, the spider dropped dead. No more oxygen for him.
"Incredible," I whispered.
Before Jacob could respond, a pitch black cloud became present in the previously clear sky. It waited for a moment, almost having a stare-off with us, and then we were swallowed by it, the air cold and damp as we floated in a haze.
...
We hit the ground again, this time, it was less painful than rock. My muscles are still recovering from the rock fall, and the shock from whatever we had just landed on made me let out a brief cry.
"Who goes there?" A sharp voice rang out.
I opened my eyes to.. Nothing. It was pitch black. I tried feeling around for my bag, or Jacob.
"Wake up," I hissed. "Wake up!"
"I said, who goes there?"
I opened my mouth to respond, but sensed movement near me. I couldn't control whatever floor I was on. The material was unfamiliar to me, and there were no plants in the surrounding areas either.
"SmartMask," I muttered, "Show me night vis-"
Two hands wrapped around my neck, yanking me from the floor and pinning me against an unseen wall. I pulled at the hands, and they weren't letting go anytime soon.
"Who... are you?" I choked.
"Who are you?! Answer, in the name of the law!"
"I.. can't.." As special forces agents, we weren't allowed to give our name to unknown investigators, in case they found out about our powers. I mean, our suit has our last name, but there's no special forces indicators. If we reveal too much, someone might have caught wind of our names together. Ember Martini and Jacob Joubert? Oh yea, two of the 10 freaks that work for the American government. Let's torture more information out of them.
"Sam, get the one on the ground. I have the female."
Sam?
"Connor?" I struggled. "Connor, it's me!"
"Shut up!" He yelled. One hand loosened, which was a brief relief until I felt his weight shift- he was reaching for his knife. Ugh. Boys and their knives. "SHUT UP! I know you have her! You can't pretend to be her and fool me!" He pressed the cold, sharp blade to my neck. Oh man, I have to choose my next words carefully.
"Cheesecake," I squeaked.
His grip immediately loosened and I fell to the floor.
"SAM! THE LIGHTS!"
Fluorescent lights flickered on, and I lay on the metal floor, coughing. It looked like a hospital, but it'd been abandoned. It doesn't smell sterile.
"Emmie!" Connor gasped, kneeling onto the floor and scooping me up in his arms. "Emmie, I'm so sorry I didn't know it was you, I thought you were Amáya! You know how good they get with disguises. I'm so sorry cheesecake, please forgive me." Tears welled in his eyes.
I laughed, wiping away the adrenaline induced tears from both my face and his.
"Connor, it's fine." I coughed a little more, to which he cried harder. I playfully swat at him. "Connor. Seriously. Stop crying. I'm okay, and your actions were warranted." I held his face and kissed him, and his tears slowed. "I'm okay."
"I'm sorry."
"Stop apologizing or I'm giving you your hoodie back."
"Okay."
"How's Jacob?"
"Eh... he passed out from the cloud," Sam said. "We're lucky he wasn't awake. We would've had a full blown problem here."
"Are you saying that you and Connor can't take down Jacob?" I teased.
"No, of course not," He bristled. Always so prideful. "I just don't like fighting my teammates, that's all."
"Right. Anyway, who else is here?"
"Everyone but Drew and Andie."
"We're at an abandoned hospital in Nicaragua, in case you were wondering. The rest of the guys are standing watch, Bryn has set up a room in case someone got hurt, and Noel and Camryn are passing out snacks," Connor added. I looked at his pretty walnut-colored eyes and he blinked back at me, and I giggled. Thank goodness for goofy Connor, because emotional Connor is hard to deal with. He's worse than Bryn.
"Okay. Let's take Jacob down to Bryn's room and then go get snacks. I'm starving."
"Way ahead of you, sister," Sam winked, and levitated Jacob and his bag off the floor. "I'll go ahead, and give you some privacy."
"How considerate," I laughed. Sam walked out into the hall and took a left, Jacob's body and bag trailing behind him.
"I missed you," Connor said, swinging my hand with his.
"I was gone for, like, a day."
"Yeah, the first day in three years. And, Sam sucks at cuddling."
"You tried cuddling with Sam?"
"No, but I know he sucks anyway."
"Mm, okay."
"Hey, don't sass me!"
"I can sass you all I want to, Connor. You didn't recognize my voice."
"For that, I'm stealing you."
"Stealing me? But I'm already-" At that he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder, running down the hall to Bryn's "office". As much as I hate admitting it, I love it when he does that.
"Ember!" Bryn exclaimed, coming over to hug me after Connor put me down. Cam and Noel followed, and we group hugged.
"How are you feeling? Need anything?"
"A snack would be great," I breathed.
"Here, put this on," Cam said, tossing me a robe and some slippers. "Oh, and in case we get separated, turn your mic on. When we're in range, they're automatically off, but if we split up, we need to be able to hear each other."
"Why am I putting this on?"
"Bryn is washing the girls' suits until after Andie and Drew arrive. Then she'll get Andie's, and we can guard while the boys' are washing."
"Oh, okay." I stepped behind a curtain, thankful to get this thing off. It's comfortable, but I was sweating from the heat of the Polynesian sun. Because we didn't have time for a full shower, I wiped myself down with baby wipes and put dry shampoo in my hair.
After stepping out, Noel brought me some goldfish and water, and I sat in one of the chairs in the room. Noel doted over Jacob until he woke up, and the boys went back to guard (except Jacob. He was eating for a few minutes).
"So... nothing from Drew and Andie, huh?"
"Nope," Cam replied. "We aren't able to track each other between time periods, so we don't know when or if they're getting out anytime soon. But, we can track you now that you've recalibrated. That's why Sam and Connor didn't know who you were."
"That sucks. And you can't call?"
"They keep getting declined, by Andie especially. Drew will message every now and then, but he's not thinking with a clear head so we can't get any constant feedback from him."
"Hmm. And... why here, in Nicaragua? It's kind of random."
"Not really, considering it's in Central America. And all the stuff with The Dusk and everything originated from here, so..." Noel piped up.
"Yeah, you have a point. It's still a little suspicious that she would kick us here instead of back to Indonesia, though. Do you think she wants to fight?"
"She hasn't given any indication that she wants to. At least right now," Bryn replied. "I'm hoping we can buy time to recover a little bit. Even though it's only been a day, our stress is insane."
"HEY! We got Drew!" Sam yelled from down the hall. Moments later, the boys rushed in, Drew dramatically collapsing onto the bed on which Jacob was laying.
"OW! Get up!" Jacob said, shoving Drew.
"You get up! I've had the worst 24 hours of my life and now some punk kid who claims to be our leader decides that him and his goldfish are more important than my mental health?!" Drew shot back.
"Did you just call me a punk?!"
"Yea, and what are you going to do about it, shorty? What are you, 5'8?"
"Actually I am..." Sam said, trying and failing to keep a straight face.
"Who let you join the conversation?!"
"Alright that's it!"
"KNOCK IT OFF!" Ben roared, walking in.
"Get off the bed Jacob! And let Drew on. If your name starts with J, S, or C and you have a Y chromosome GET IN A CORNER!" Bryn continued.
"Hey! What did I do?" Connor whined.
"Do I need to repeat myself?"
"No ma'am."
I laughed, and then quickly cleared my throat. "Okay. Now that that's out of the way..." I started, exchanging looks with Connor. "Drew, do you need a minute before explaining your events?"
"No."
"Hey. No need to snap. We don't tolerate this attitude here."
"Sorry, Em. And the rest of you. It's hard to find healthy ways to cope during all of this stress. And I feel bad for leaving Andie behind..."
"You left her behind?" Cam and Noel shrieked.
Before Drew could get fired up again, I quieted them.
"Continue."
Noel tossed him a bag of Teddy Grahams (chocolate chip, the good kind) and he started bawling. In between sobs we were able to make out the events that had occurred after Drew had hung up on the group call. The large spider that Jackson beat up and Andie shot had returned to the hotel. Jackson name dropped Amáya, even though she wasn't alive yet- the Fish pair had landed in 1980s Canada- and Drew got into a fist fight. Andie walked in at the wrong time and thought they were brawling over her, which caused her to get upset again and ran into the snow. Before Drew could follow her, Jackson immobilized him and set the spider on him. Thankfully, Drew was able to fight and kill the spider- but because he killed it without Andie present, she was left behind.
"So is Jackson working with Amáya now?" Bryn asked.
"Yeah. And so am I."
A familiar, husky voice made us whirl around from where we were standing.
Maverick.