Trespassing on Hallowed Ground (The Tes Simms Anthology, Book 3)

A Hacky Plan

At this rate, we've been in the meeting room as many times as we've been in our bedroom. Luna is here waiting with none other than Sapphire, who seems to be a little less weighed down by the world since the last time we saw her.

"Welcome back, you too," Luna says. "We finally have an answer and a strategy to deal with the Lurker."

"Oh, that's great," Holly says.

"Yeah, you probably won't be thinking that once you hear what it is," Ike says.

"Yeah, you're probably gonna want to sit down," Luna says.

Holly and I look at each other, and do as suggested. Dwight joins the other two up at the whiteboard before waving his hand across the screen and reviewing a lot of notes, arrows, and ideas.

"Let's start with what we know about the lurker," Luna says. "The Lurker used to be a serial killer who worked for the Necromancer queen. Ninety-five percent of his targets all fit under the same criteria: young women with black hair. The other five percent were political hits.

"In order for the Lurker to target someone, he has to have seen them in person. Then, he manifests himself in dreams, and somehow kills people while they're asleep. Since no one has ever seen him in a dream and survived for long, our best guess is that he has two auras: night stalker, which is the quote-unquote forbidden aura, and some other lethal one that somehow stops peoples' hearts."

"Wait, so the Lurker is going to kill Tes in her sleep?!"

"We think so, yes. We don't know of any other time the Lurker has been in someone's dream other than to kill them. We are also not sure if he's targeting you because you fit his MO, or if he saw what happened on day one and decided to get payback. Either way, we have a plan."

Dwight commands the conversation now, pointing to fourteen-letter word on the whiteboard: "Bait. This word has a double meaning in this plan. Step one is to use you as bait. And trust me, I know what you're both already thinking. We will have as many people as we need on standby, so that if we sense things are getting intense, we will wake you up.

"The second operation of the word is to bait him. While you are in your dream state, we want you to try to think of only one thing: Maxima Park, tomorrow, two in the afternoon. We want him to think that there's something big happening. In reality, we will set up an ambush to trap and stop him."

"This plan seems to hinge on a lot of chance. Us being able to wake her up, and her being able to convince him somehow, and him actually showing up." Holly crosses her arms.

"Very true. And if we had a better plan, we would go with that. But this man has eluded us for almost two decades. Can you imagine how many people he could have gotten to in that long of a time span? This is sort of a last-ditch effort to save you and many more people in the future."

"And what about our deal?"

Now it's Luna's turn to cross her arms. "If you help us with this, this will be the last thing you'll need to do for me. You will have your generator."

"Even if it doesn't succeed?"

"Even if it doesn't succeed."

Holly and I look at each other again. "Is it all right if we discuss this real quick?"

"All right, but make it quick. I don't have an alternative plan set up to get y'all home if you say no."

The three resistance leaders leave the room, and Holly and I turn to discuss the plan again. "It sounds like it's either we do this and go home tomorrow, or we don't and have no idea still when we go home."

We don't really have much of a choice.

"Agreed. How do you feel about it?"

Not great.

"Me neither. I don't like using you as bait for a serial killer who's been at large for twenty years."

But if it has to be done...

We sit in silence for a little longer. I guess the deal is sealed.

I stand up and open the door, letting the three back in. "I'm in."