We carried them into the boats and escorted them back across the waves toward our submarine. Here, we formed another human chain to lower them down.
Corrine spoke through our earpieces. “Okay. The ogres are dealt with.”
“Good,” my father said. “Head down to the humans, and help us get the rest off quickly.” We had more witches in the submarine, but we needed them to stay down there to begin treating the wounded.
Having emptied the boats of humans, we were about to head back to the ship when a blinding light flashed in the sky, followed by a deafening explosion that sent shockwaves through the ocean. The submarine rocked violently. My eyes, still sore from the flash, traveled up to see a large black helicopter shaped like a wasp with letters painted on its side: IBSI. They had just dropped a bomb.
“Hunters.” My father spat the word like a curse.
The humans. Our witches. They were still on the ship.
We were all in a state of shock.
“Mona! Brock!” Kiev roared. He looked like he was about to dive into the ocean and swim toward the burning ship when our witches manifested themselves about twenty feet away from us. We all let out a sigh in unison. Hovering over the water, each of them appeared singed, but thankfully for the most part unscathed. The remaining humans, on the other hand, could not have survived that blast.
All our attention—our shock, fury and indignation—was directed at the hunters.
What the hell do they think they’re doing?
Derek
I could hardly remember feeling more furious than I did in that moment. As the helicopter descended toward us, I caught a glimpse of Bradley Thornton’s bald head through the opening side door. Oh, how I hated this man’s guts. He was an “officer” of the IBSI in charge of operations in Australia, all the way up to Japan. Although he was not supposed to be in charge of the ocean, he had been known to encroach before… but never like this.
My hands were twitching to get on the phone to Fowler so I could yell myself hoarse until I got Thornton fired, when ropes unraveled from the helicopter and four hunters slid down—Thornton included—landing with a thunk on the roof of our sub.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Ben and I bellowed at once.
“This mission was allotted to us,” I seethed, taking a step closer to Thornton and glaring daggers into his eyes. “We were in the middle of an operation. Your actions have just murdered possibly a hundred innocent citizens.”
Thornton eyed us with an infuriatingly calm expression. “And that is regrettable,” he said, his voice nasally. He glanced toward the wreckage of the ship, which was now beginning to sink. “I’m aware that this mission was allotted to you, but we happened to be passing this way.”
I waited for him to continue. Nothing. That was his explanation.
My hands practically shaking with fury, I shoved my hand into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I dialed Fowler’s number.
He picked up after a few rings. “Fowler,” I bellowed into the phone, possibly a little too loudly, but the chopper’s blades were deafening. “Officer”—I hated to use the word—“Thornton and his men have jeopardized our entire operation, slaughtered possibly up to a hundred humans, and almost killed my colleagues in the process.”
Silence.
“Fowler?” I shouted.
I heard him draw in a breath. “I’m here, Novak,” he responded.
“What is going on?” I roared.
He cleared his throat. “Let me speak to Officer Thornton.”
I shoved the phone into Thornton’s hands. Thornton raised it to his ear. “Yes. Hm. Of course. I understand. Yes.” Then he passed the phone back to me, his face still punchably calm.
“I’ve spoken to Thornton,” Fowler said. “He will not interrupt a mission again.”
“And what of the human casualties?” I growled. “You’ll just forget about them? Brush them under the carpet?”
There was a pause on the other end, and then I felt the chill run down my spine as he repeated the same words as Thornton. “It is… regrettable.”
I hung up the phone before recasting my glare on Thornton.
The basic problem was that the IBSI—which, in my opinion, should have just been shortened to “BS”—was more powerful than the governments. The latter were dependent on the organization. If the IBSI withdrew, the governments would be completely helpless. Through all their funding, they had created a monster.
Technically, they still had to obey the laws, but what Thornton had just done should have been cause to immediately fire him on the spot, along with all of his men. They would’ve withdrawn their sanction of us if we’d done the same thing, but it was different rules for different people. The hunters outnumbered us astronomically, and, unlike us, they were not disposable.
The IBSI had always taken advantage of this fact, but this was the first time I’d ever seen it so blatantly displayed.
There was nothing more I could say to Thornton than what I was already saying with my glower.
“Get off our submarine,” I hissed.
Stepping back, Thornton and the two men who’d come down with him gazed up at the helicopter. I was expecting them to grip back onto the ropes so they could be pulled up. Instead, to my shock, with a giant thrust of their legs, they leapt about ten feet in the air. Grabbing hold of the runners beneath the open door, they swung themselves back up.
We stood, still gaping, as they swung out of sight and the helicopter flew away.
It was Sofia who finally voiced what we were all thinking: “That was an awfully high jump for a human.”
I narrowed my eyes on the disappearing aircraft. Something is going on with these hunters.
Victoria
This mission had certainly gotten eventful quickly.
After the bomb went off, Kyle and I were left scrambling to steady the submarine. Once Kyle could manage by himself, I raced to the hatch to see Uncle Derek yelling at three hunters.
Once they left in their chopper, the rest of us retreated into the sub. We headed toward the chamber of the submarine we kept especially reserved for injured humans found on excursions. I wasn’t sure when the tradition had begun, but whenever we found wounded humans we tended to take them to The Shade to nurse them back to health before returning them to their own world.
Witches were already milling about attending them, and the rest of us assisted wherever we could. The state of these men was truly appalling. I wondered what on earth had happened to them, what they’d actually found on that ship. But I didn’t want to distract anyone by asking questions at a time like this. Once we felt we’d done all we could for the humans, at least until we returned to our island, Grace, Arwen, Brock, Heath and I retreated to a corner.
“What happened to these men?” I asked.
“Ogres,” Grace said grimly.
“Now, dead ogres,” Brock added, retrieving a tissue from his pocket and wiping his singed forehead.
“We got caught in the blaze,” Arwen explained, as she caught me observing his skin—and now I realized her skin was singed too. Her skin tone just made it harder to notice. “If we weren’t witches,” she said, “we would have been burned alive along with the rest.”
I shuddered at the thought.
Then Uncle Derek steamed into the room, along with Ben and my father and mother—all of them looking disturbed and angry as they looked around at the humans.
I went to my parents. “What now?” I asked them.
It was Derek who answered: “We return to The Shade.”
Grace
The journey home passed quickly. Although the witches said we could go, the five of us decided to stay with the injured. We went around offering them water and cold cloths and in general assisted in trying to keep them alive at least until we reached the island, where we could offer them full-fledged medical assistance.
When we reached the Port, we escorted them straight to The Shade’s hospital. A sleek, steel buildin
g with many large windows, it had been constructed amid the flower-filled meadows about seven years ago. Meadow Hospital, it had been christened. It had state-of-the-art equipment afforded to us by the government due to the service that we were performing. It was here that all aspiring members of the League came to train in first aid.
Once all the men had been given beds, Victoria, Arwen, Brock, Heath and I continued to assist for several hours until the adults dismissed us. Many of the men were in such a bad state that they were predicted to pass away during the next twelve hours, even with the witches’ assistance, but those who survived and got better would be taken to the Hawaiian government, who would return them to their homes.
We paid a visit to the bathrooms to disinfect our hands and any other skin that had been exposed, and then left through the sliding glass exit. As we emerged in the meadow of sunflowers outside, all five of us were quiet. Contemplative.
We reached the other side of the field and took to the forest path that would lead to the Sanctuary and then further to the Residences.
Passing by her home, Arwen stopped and let out a yawn. “I’m so tired,” she said, her eyelids drooping. She flung herself at Brock, pressing a heated kiss against his lips, before hugging the rest of us. “I’ll catch you around.” With that, she disappeared through her front door.
Brock took this as his cue to leave, too. He vanished himself back to the treehouse he shared with his parents in the Residences, leaving Victoria, Heath and me alone.
I wasn’t used to such early mornings, and yesterday—a Friday—had been busy. First of all there had been school, and then I’d had a lot of homework to catch up on in the evening, so I’d gotten to bed late as it was. I should have been exhausted now, but I felt… strangely invigorated. I guessed, as disastrously wrong as our mission had gone, I was still buzzing from the experience.
The three of us ambled along the path together and decided that, since it was a beautiful day beyond the spell of permanent night that enshrouded us, we ought to head to Sun Beach. We could relax a bit, take time to catch our breath, and then later maybe even take a nap.
As we neared, I could tell from the noise drifting through the trees that it was packed. It always was on Saturdays. When we stepped onto the beautiful golden beach, this idyllic normalcy was bizarre to behold after what we had just been through. Wandering around our island, observing how happily and peacefully we lived, one would never guess in a million years the state of the world surrounding us.
“Hey! Guys!” my fifteen-year-old cousin Hazel yelled to us. She was standing in the ocean, submerged to her waist in the waves, and wearing a bright yellow bikini. Her wet brown hair scattered as she came rushing over to us. “You’re back already! My parents too?” she panted.
“Yes,” I said, giving her a hug.
We soon found ourselves crowded by a whole group of our school friends. We sat down in a circle and told them everything that had happened.
“I can’t believe those people!” Ruby exclaimed. “What if they interrupt another mission?”
We continued describing our mission for about an hour until we’d said all there was to say.
Then my twelve-year-old cousin Benedict plopped himself down between me and Heath, whom I’d been secretly enjoying sitting so close to. Benedict placed an arm around each of us. “And did you two get the chance to work together?” he asked, moving his dark brows in a stupid wiggle.
A familiar warmth rushed to my cheeks as Heath’s breathtaking navy eyes met mine.
“No, we didn’t get the chance,” I said, clearing my throat and making a concerted effort to keep my voice cool and collected… even as I gripped Benedict’s hand—perhaps a little too hard—and shoved it away from my shoulder.
Benedict had somehow found out that I had a crush on Heath, and, of course, being a twelve-year-old, he took every opportunity to remind me of this fact.
“Oh, well,” Benedict said, grinning widely as he stood up. “I’m sure you’ll both make some fire at some point.”
Augh. My cheeks were so hot now, they did feel on fire.
I was relieved when he ambled back over to the water. Though he stopped to throw a painfully visible wink at me just before he rushed into the waves.
Hazel looked at me apologetically on behalf of her brother.
I no longer felt comfortable sitting next to Heath. I stood up. “I’m going to go and take a dip,” I said, rolling up my pants.
And maybe wring that little brat’s neck while I’m at it…
Sofia
Derek was still seething when we returned to our penthouse. He paced back and forth in the living room, rubbing his temples.
“That was out of line,” he said. “Way out of line. I don’t know what’s going on, but something isn’t right. Something has changed.”
I wasn’t sure what to say or what to suggest. Knowing that the hunters could show up and jeopardize one of our missions, as they’d done this one, and get away with it… it was extremely unnerving. Nothing of this magnitude had ever happened before. Yes, they had reached locations before us—obviously on purpose—but they’d never jeopardized a mission that we were clearly in the middle of. It was like they were sending us a message…
Derek took a seat in the armchair opposite me and leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. He was silent for a while, rubbing his face in his hands, before looking up, a spark of resolution in his eyes.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I want a look into Thornton’s headquarters.”
I bit my lower lip. We both knew that was illegal. No spies or trespassers were allowed to go anywhere near IBSI headquarters for any reason whatsoever. If we got caught… it would certainly heighten the tension. And more than likely, we would lose the support of the authorities. If presented with a choice, they would pick the hunters over us every time.
Still, I nodded. Something had shifted with these hunters and until we knew what it was, we couldn’t go out on another mission again without fearing for both our lives and the lives of the humans we were trying to rescue.
“I agree, Derek,” I said, standing up and placing a hand on his shoulder. “If they don’t play by the rules, why should we?”
Victoria
I never could have expected the League to be called on another mission so soon. I didn’t have to go, of course—none of us did—but I wanted to.
At least this time, we knew exactly where we were heading before we left.
Uncle Derek and Ben called a meeting in the Great Dome, where Derek informed us of his plan. He wanted to spy on the Philippines branch of IBSI, where Thornton was based. It would involve taking our chopper this time— another massive contraption given to us by the US government. Its name, Nightshade, was painted in pale blue on either side of its body. Nightshade was no ordinary helicopter though. It could convert into an amphibious tank. The witches would cast an invisibility spell over the machine, as well as mask its noise.
Once the meeting was over, I made sure to sleep for the rest of the day because it would be another early start. When I woke up at about two AM the next morning, it felt like déjà vu.
But as I arrived with my parents in the clearing in front of the Black Heights—where our helicopter pads were located—ours was a much smaller group than the previous day. This had been at Derek’s request, because there was really no need to take such a large group. I was pleased to spot Brock, Heath, Grace and Arwen again, however.
“Gluttons for punishment, aren’t we?” Arwen grinned.
“Something like that,” Brock muttered, rubbing his eyes and still looking half asleep.
Boarding the helicopter, I parted ways with them to move to the front of the chopper where I found Kyle already in the pilot’s cabin. I had no experience piloting helicopters, that was for sure, but I was eager to watch how it was done.
Kyle waited until my father gave him the go-ahead, and then, blades slicing the air, we launched upward through the bou
ndary and into the star-speckled sky.
I ended up falling asleep in my chair for most of the journey. When I woke up, we were already descending. I gazed out of the window. The sun was close to peeking above the horizon and sprawled beneath us was a vast compound of square, steel buildings with tinted glass windows, surrounded by dense jungle. Kyle piloted us back to the shore which lined the edge of the jungle and we touched down on a deserted beach.
Kyle pressed a series of buttons and the aircraft transformed into a tank. We rolled across the beach, following a path into the jungle that had already been carved out by other tanks, until we neared the entrance to the compound—towering steel gates. It would of course be too risky to park here, so we continued along the wide path, deeper into the jungle, until we found a spot further out of the way, that still afforded us a view of the entrance.
Derek, Ben, Lucas and my parents sat behind me. I looked to them, raising my brows and wondering what was next.
Ben and Lucas exchanged glances, then stood up. “We will leave now,” Ben said. “Can’t say how long we will be.”
“Be careful,” Sofia said, hugging Ben.
“Yeah,” he muttered.
“And you, too, Uncle Lucas,” I added with a smile, not wanting him to feel left out.
He smirked at me appreciatively and ruffled my hair before he and Ben thinned themselves and left the room.
“So… what are they going to do exactly?” I asked my mother.
“They will get an initial scope of the place and report back,” she replied.