Defenders of Earth (Book 2 of the Keepers Trilogy)

Chapter 19

Before I can stop her, Callie pushes on the door roughly and stumbles in. "Who are you?" she demands.

"Callie," I whisper, grabbing her arm. "Callie, this might not-"

She shakes her arm away and steps further into the room. Thinking I might just yell at her, I follow Callie.

The Turamese is no longer in the tank. Rather, it sits hunched in a chair, completely wrapped in a towel. Callie rushes to its side. "Who are you?" she asks.

It looks at her. "You are not human," it comments with that guttural, gravelly voice I heard earlier. "You are Azeran. I know of your kind; but I have not seen one before."

"Of course you know of our kind," Callie says. "Your ruler sent his children to my planet."

"My ruler?" the Turamese tilts its head. "I do not recall any such decision being made. But then, he makes many decisions without communicating them."

"I know he's a bad person. I met his twins."

"Twins?" he-I'm pretty sure the Turamese is male-shakes his head. "Impossible. Amacus and Alexa are no more than babies."

"Not anymore," Callie says softly. "They're teenagers now. They know how to fight. How long were you on Earth?"

One of the scientists-the bearded man who was kind to me earlier-licks his lips nervously. "Um...15 years."

"I had heard news of one of my kind making contact with yours. I heard there was a special child in the womb capable of controlling universes. I was making my way to Azera," the Turamese explains.

Callie stands up and begins pacing. "Controlling universes? You must've heard wrong." She turns and faces the Turamese. "Who told you of this special child?"

"Our ambassador," the Turamese says. "The one who made contact with your planet." Uncertainty creeps into his voice. "You do not know of it?"

"No," Callie says. "Neither of the twins told me that. Nor did my father, and he had most control of the fate of the machine. And-" she chokes up. "And, of me."

"The machine between our two worlds? There was a compromise, that if the machine were to be built, one of the Azerans would be assigned to be the key. An unborn daughter, of an influential man-"

"That daughter was me," Callie says. "I was suppose to be a Keeper, and then this machine was built, and I was given Time Keeping because of my intelligence when I was born."

"I heard it was because of your father," the Turamese says.

"That's why I was picked to be a Keeper. Poppa was one."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the scientists tapping away madly at the computer-presumably, recording their conversation. But Callie doesn't realize how much info she's giving the ETL.

"Where is your father?" the Turamese asks.

Callie freezes. "What-what's your name?" she asks quickly.

"It is Azudus, but do not change the subject. Where is your father now? Does he know why you are on Earth? Is it to protect the key?"

"He knew I'm on Earth," Callie mumbles. "But now he's dead. I'm here because the key wasn't protected good enough."

"I do not understand. Are you not safe here?"

Callie shakes her head miserably. "A traitor forced me through the rift. That's how I ended up here. Now Simon's coming to Earth, your kind is in danger and I don't know what to do!"

I breathe heavily, brushing tears off my face. Azudus looks at me. "I am lost. What do you mean, my kind is in danger?"

I look at the scientists. There's a lot to spill, and not all I want them to know. "How well do you speak Azeran?" I ask cautiously.

"I am fluent, why?"

"There's some things I don't want to spill to the humans," I say in Azeran. "And I'm better at Azeran than English, anyhow."

"Talk, and I will listen," Azudus says, also in Azeran.

So I talk. I tell him everything, from the murder of Baya-Simon's Guardian-to me being forced into the rift and ending up on Earth. I tell him about how Simon enslaved thousands and killed billions. When I'm done, the only info I leave out is my relationship with Amacus.

Azudus frowns. "How long was I on Earth?" he demands in English, looking at the scientists. "I went into that tank willingly, told I would feel nothing, and that it was only for a few days, so I could heal. Now I am told it was for fifteen years. For eight of those years, my home was under attack. What else did you lie about?" The Turamese's voice grew angrier. "What else am I deprived of knowing?"

He glares at the scientists.

"Ummm...." The other scientist-i recognize him as Dr. Wilson-bites his lip. "There was something a few months ago, on the news..."

Mark inhales sharply. He grabs my shoulder and hisses in my ear. "His eyes. Why are they like that? Is that, like, normal?"

For a moment, I feel deja vu. Someone else said something similar, long ago.

"Their eyes," Astrid, my best friend in the whole universe, had whispered to me when the twins were introduced to us. "Look at their eyes!"

I look at Azudus' eyes. I forgot the most noticeable feature of the twins-their pure black eyes. Like Amacus and Alexa, Azudus lacked visible pupils or irises. Just black.

Mark's comment was hardly quiet; Azudus frowns. "Explain. What does he mean?"

"Can I look up something real quick?" Mark asks. "That thing on the news."

Without waiting for permission, Mark opens up Chrome and begins a search. Azudus and I watch.

"What thing on the news?" I ask.

"Like they said, there was something on the news a few months ago. But I thought the article left out some stuff. But I never really made a connection to this until now."

"What?"

Mark steps back. "Read it and weep," he says, gesturing at the screen.

I scan the article. DEAD MAN WITH RARE EYES FOUND IN AUSTRALIA, the top blares. "The eyes were as dark as coal... Odd clothes were made of unknown plant fiber... Suspected to be part of cult... More to be released."

"There's more?" I ask. "Where is it?"

"It was later announced that the body was cremated," Mark says. "They said nothing else."

"Bit of a conspiracy," Dr. Bearded Guy says. "People either the man was abducted or actually an alien himself."

He was alien, I think. A hypnotized Azeran, forced to protect Simon instead of his home. Forced through the portal by Simon.

I had watched it through a flashback. That was how I knew about the rifts on Earth. How I knew about the rift on Marix. I didn't pay much attention to the soldier's appearance, but one thing didn't match up.

Why were his eyes like Turameses'? Was it from the act of passing through rifts? If so, why were mine normal?

A/N: Hope everyone's planning on having a good summer! I got to see Poison and Cheap Trick live a couple weeks ago, and that was awesome. It's hot as hell, though (mid-90s, bleh!).