Page 127 of The Stone Initiation
The whole episode couldn’t have lasted more than five minutes but the carnage...
“Move,” Shar said. “The station should be—”
“More are coming!” Chlobe pointed to the skies.
Sure enough, a fresh wave was on the way, larger than the first.
“Evelyn?” Shar looked to the nest mistress.
“Not this soon. I can’t.”
“Then we run,” Sharniza said.
I ushered the omegas into the street. “Come on. It can’t be far.”
The grotesques were so close I could feel the gusts of air from the beat of their wings.
“Over here!” A woman ran out of a building a few meters down. “Move it!”
She stepped into the road, raised a rifle and shot at the sky. The grotesques swerved and dove to avoid the bullets giving us enough time to get into the building.
A station
The police station.
The woman with the gun hurried inside and slammed the doors shut. “Bertie, activate the runes now!”
A short, balding man behind the counter slammed a bloody palm onto a symbol on the wall. The lights flickered and dimmed before flaring.
“All good,” the woman said. “All good. They won’t be able to get inside now.” She leaned against the door, hand on heart, eyes closed for a moment. “Second time this month. This settlement it going to shit.” She pushed off the door and strode over to the counter. “Now who are you all, why are you here, and why the heck are there grotesques in my settlement?”
Evelyn stepped forward, tucking her hair behind her ears. “My name is Evelyn, and I’m responsible for these ladies. These are omegas and cadets. We’re from the academy, and I have no idea why our warp orb brought us here, or why those creatures are after us.”
She sounded disgusted and indignant and…scared, acting like she hadn’t just turned into a huge killer stone snake and ripped apart a bunch of grotesques. Who was this woman?
“Bertie, send an urgent message to HQ,” the woman instructed. “Let them know their omegas and cadets are here. Tell them we need an extraction now.”
Bertie hurried off down the corridor.
The lights flickered.
“What’s that?” Chlobe asked.
“They’re testing the wards,” the woman said. “Relax. You’ll be safe here until HQ send a team of guardians for you.”
“I don’t understand why we’re here,” Evelyn muttered. “The orb should have taken us home.”
I exchanged looks with Sharniza. “Willowman gave her the orb.”
“Willowman doesn’t make mistakes,” Sharniza said.
I didn’t want to believe that the man who the elites trusted would deliberately put us in harm’s way. “Evelyn, did Willowman hand you the orb himself?”
“No…um…It was delivered yesterday. Cartwright, the academy grotesque…oh…
No.” She shook her head. “Cartwright has been with the academy since it was formed. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt us.”
“Well, somebody sent us here on purpose, and those grotesques are after the omegas,” Sharniza said.
