Chapters
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Their jet had no parachutes, nor any way of landing in the Arctic wasteland below them.“This is really stupid.” Michelle was dressed in cold-weather clothes, along with everyone else. How she had changed while monitoring the plane, Jacob was too afraid to ask. “There’s a research station a hundred miles from here we could land safely and not trash a 65 million dollar plane.”“Yes, let’s add creating an international incident to our list of crimes,” Jackie muttered, flexing her wings. They…-
123.5 K •
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“This can’t exist.” Eric slung his satchel in front of him, flipping it open. He lifted out a tablet and started scrolling through its contents with one hand. “It defies everything we understand about archeology. This is late Roman construction, on an island they never knew existed. If there were colonies in Greenland, we would’ve known. Their ships never could have crossed the ocean.”Jacob made his way over to one of the pillars, inspecting the writing. They were unfamiliar shapes, like sticks…-
123.5 K •
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Metal ground on stone above them, an ominous, sustained rattle. None of them spoke: there were no plans to formulate, nothing to do but hide and wait. Eventually something whined and scraped on stone, and something rattled down the shaft. A steel cage of sorts, apparently winched down by cable. There were two soldiers inside, both in something like riot gear, massive weapons over each shoulder. Jacob had never actually seen the ECU in action, but he recognized the patches on their shoulders. They hopped…-
123.5 K •
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Something exploded. The ceiling shook above them, raining down small pebbles. Something heavy and metallic clanked and rattled down the opening, landing only a foot away from the cage. It was some kind of winch assembly, half-melted and warped by the force of something massive.Jacob didn’t stare up into the opening with shock as the guards did, but took Elise and Katie by their shoulders and concentrated. The teleport came far easier than when he was screwing around jumping onto buildings. A flash, and…-
123.5 K •
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They didn’t have far to go to reach the portal. A little crawling for the humans, and they found themselves in a much smaller cavern, quite warm and comfortable despite the chill of the temple behind them. There was a great deal more cuneiform writing on the walls they couldn’t read. Eric still had his working tablet and took pictures of each one. He didn’t really want to—nothing seemed to matter right now, but he forced himself to move. Danni wouldn’t want me to give up. She’d want us to be…-
123.5 K •
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Time blurred. Elise couldn’t say how long it took for Harley to return, flanked by a squadron of guards in gold uniforms. They brought stretchers, one for each pony, and forced even her to lie down. They passed through a dark temple, through twisting caverns lit only by flashlights in the gloom. Mesmerizing lights flickered in front of her eyes. An hour or two of uneasy sleep on the Temple floor had done very little to overcome the fatigue of battle. Eventually, she slept.For most of her life, Special…-
123.5 K •
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There was no such thing as Bronytown. As it turned out, Jacob was wrong on many of his predictions. They weren’t shipped out to one of the refugee towns. He hadn’t been the only one to turn Luna down, either. Every single one of them but Elise had wanted time to recover. Some would join the fray again when that time was over… but by then, the very worst of the war would probably be resolved, for better or worse. Instead of being sent to some distant town where they wouldn’t bother natives, they had…-
123.5 K •
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Between the late hour of his last class and the isolation of the river trail, it was a rare night when Jacob met anyone else on his walk home. Despite his age, there was always something that made him nervous whenever he heard another set of footsteps.When he heard footsteps running towards him down the path, he got a little tense. Old growth pine and fir grew here, obscuring the orange of streetlights and splitting moonlight into patchwork shadows. Jacob slowed a little in his walk, wishing he had a can…-
123.5 K •
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Hey sis, you still up? It took him several hours to send the text. But after a long shower, an unhealthy meal of too much comfort food, and a few minutes quiet meditation he found the evidence and memories of his adventure remained. Maybe the girl’s appearance could be rationalized away, maybe even her behavior. Her voice had been different, so there was that. But nothing he could come up with could explain the twisted stick of polished wood that still made his fingers tingle every time he touched it.…-
123.5 K •
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“O-oh.” Jacob started walking in the direction she had indicated, towards the administration building. He walked slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements. There was no missing the handgun holstered on this woman’s waist. “Sure. About what?”She didn’t rush him, but she did follow very closely, close enough that she could’ve grabbed him if he tried to run. “About your involvement with a club here on campus.” She opened the portfolio again, this time holding it out so he could get a…-
123.5 K •
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