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  “So this building, the research facility, is where the EWS agents do what? Spy on us? Spy on the mainland? What?”

  “It’s where the agents and Grigori congregate and work together to keep the Earth World safe from demons,” Uxa said.

  “The Grigori take orders from the Brotherhood?” Van’s mouth gaped in disbelief.

  “While we’re operating in the Earth World, yes. We’re considered EWS agents to their government.” Uxa seemed miffed to admit this fact.

  Van could see why. These people had none of the finesse, physical strength, or elegance of the Grigori. They looked like pale, overfed, clumsy oafs.

  “EWS agents fall under a special branch of Homeland Security, officially.” The ambassador stifled a cough. “Unofficially, they work for the Brotherhood.”

  “The team you see here monitors the entire Earth World,” Uxa explained further.

  “Our main focus is to keep our world safe, secure, and resilient against all acts of terrorism including demon attacks.” The ambassador paused and then muttered, “And any other crap that drops in from your godforsaken world.”

  Uxa looked as if she were biting her tongue.

  A bit of uncomfortable silence hung between the three of them.

  Finally, Uxa said, “Right now the terrigens are on the verge of World War III.”

  “The unrest in the Earth World affects our world,” Van said, in defense of the ambassadors crack about the “crap” in the Living world.

  Uxa nodded. “An Earth World war of that magnitude would generate enough demons to lead to an imminent collapse of the Living World. We are all interdependent and interconnected.”

  “Damn right we are,” Ambassador Kasey said. “Rest assured, the Brotherhood is here to help. We’ll get those demons under control yet.”

  Van noticed a slight tenseness in Uxa’s shoulders. She could practically feel irritation radiating from Uxa’s body.

  “Um, Uxa. Can I talk to you for a sec?” Van glanced at Ambassador Kasey. “Privately.”

  The two walked to a quiet area against the wall of the large room.

  “I’m unclear who has higher authority, the Brotherhood or the Elders?” Van eyed the busy EWS agents, her mind already spinning with tactics on how to get rid of them.

  “I was trying to keep your identity a secret from the Brotherhood,” Uxa said with a slight edge to her voice. “The ambassador was pressuring me for an introduction, which I denied. My refusal would’ve stood, then you came galloping into my office.” Uxa let out an exasperated sigh. “They knew your name only, but now even more people know your identity and location.”

  “Sorry,” Van said, although glad she had learned the truth. “So…we don’t answer to them?”

  “The Elders own Providence Island. We have ultimate control. However, it would be infinitely more difficult to keep the island a secret from terrigens if we didn’t get help from the United States government. The island’s classification as a tribal reservation and national wildlife preserve is due to the Brotherhood.”

  “I’ve heard stories about the facility.” Van grimaced. “How do you keep these Brotherhood terrigens from conducting scientific experiments on our kind? Our animals? Our land?”

  “We don’t tell them everything.”

  “Have you told them the secrets of how to use the portal?”

  “Of course not!”

  “What about island security? Are they part of the Brotherhood too?”

  “There are some EWS agents on the force. They report to the Elders.”

  Van recalled the suits she had overheard at the Dock Side Cafe. “It’s obvious they’re using us. Spying on us and trying to uncover the island’s secrets, to figure out our technology, and to steal resources from the Living World. Once they do, they’ll exploit the knowledge for profit, regardless of the damage it could do to both our worlds.”

  Uxa didn’t look angry. Instead, she appeared to be pleased. “The Brotherhood has assigned top quantum physicists, cellular biologists, engineers, and a host of others who all secretly tried to unravel our portal technology, genetic differences, and to figure out ways to mine the resources abundant in the Living World. They’re also trying to learn how to make energy weapons by using our gemstone technology.”

  “You’re allowing them to dissect us?” Van didn’t understand why Uxa remained calm and smug.

  “They haven’t succeeded.” Uxa grinned. “And never will, not as long as they continue to vibrate at such a low frequency. They’re like rats on a running wheel. They can run as fast as they want but will never get anywhere.”

  Uxa placed a hand on Van’s back and applied a bit of pressure indicating it was time for them to head back to the ambassador.

  “The Grigori stick to eliminating demons who wreak havoc in the Earth World,” Uxa said. “We leave the security of the island to the Brotherhood and their agents, and let them deal with the bureaucracy of the mainland government. It’s a good balance, and we work in harmony together.”

  Uxa could make all the excuses she wanted, but Van still didn’t like it.

  “You’re thinking of the Brotherhood as the enemy,” Uxa said. “But the opposite could also be true. They could be our ally.”

  “Pfft.”

  “Vanessa, you must try to see the Brotherhood differently.”

  How could an enemy be an ally? Uxa had gone berserk.

  Uxa grabbed her arm, stopping their walk.

  She roughly turned Van so they were face to face and whispered fiercely, “Vanessa, you must learn to combine both good and bad to form a new synthesis, if not, stagnation will occur. You’ll be like water in a collection pond, motionless and stuck.”

  Before Van could retort, loud blaring sounds echoed throughout the room. Red lights flashed across the ceiling.

  Ambassador Kasey came bounding over, cheeks flushed. “The complex is on alert!”

  “What is it?” Uxa asked as they rushed over to view the monitors.

  “That damn speedboat is back,” the ambassador said.

  On one of the large rectangular monitors, Van saw a speedboat bobbing in the ocean, the same one she had seen earlier while doing yoga.

  “Your magic that’s hiding the island isn’t working.” The ambassador looked like he was about to burst. “Fix it.”

  Uxa appeared pained. She already had the Balish Council claiming her Grigori weren’t doing their job, now the Brotherhood insinuated the same thing.

  But, if the ambassador was right, and the magic on the island had become faulty, then Van’s concerns had been validated. The Brotherhood and their interference were destroying the fabric that held the magic of Providence Island and the Living World together. Why couldn’t Uxa see this?

  Everyone in the room watched helplessly as the speedboat reached the rocky coastline, driven by a figure that appeared blurry on the screen but Van could tell was a man.

  “How did this guy find us?” one of the suits asked.

  Ambassador Kasey huffed. “Bring him in.”

  Chapter 8

  “Sir, it’s Myles Dinkle,” one of the suits holding a handset said to Ambassador Kasey.

  “Who’s Myles Dinkle?” Van asked.

  “Only the most persistent, snooping terrigen alive,” the ambassador grumbled. “The number one thorn in our side.”

  “He’s at the top of the EWS’s watch list.” Uxa frowned.

  Van stared at the monitor. Four suits dragged a man in his early thirties into a military jeep buggy.

  Van thought the buggies looked like a golf cart had mated with a dune buggy. They were specially made vehicles used for transportation on the island. The non-military buggies were painted in bright colors. The military ones were black, boxy, and sturdy, giving them a sinister appearance. Whenever one drove near Van, she ducked out of site.

  “He’s a nuisance. Nothing more,” the ambassador stated. His tone indicated hope rather than fact.

  “How did he get on the ‘watch list�
�?” Van asked. “Has he tried to reach the island before?”

  “Myles operates a conspiracy theory website,” one of the nearby suits said, not taking his eyes off the monitor. “Unfortunately for us, he’s posted accurate data about Providence Island, the portal, and the Living World.”

  “Bah.” The ambassador waved his hand. “Mostly junk. He thinks the U.S. government created the portal.”

  “Recently, he’s gotten an increase in followers,” Uxa said. “His life’s mission is to find proof and expose our world.”

  “He’s recruiting more and more terrigens to help him in his quest,” the suit said. “His followers agree that the government is hiding a dark secret. They believe Myles is a crusader trying to protect their world. He’s on the right track, which makes him a threat to the island.”

  “How does he know about our world at all?” Van asked.

  “We’ll find out once they bring him here,” the ambassador said darkly. “But how the hell did he find the island in the first place?”

  “Timing,” answered the suit. “Myles happened upon the island as it shifted out from behind the membrane. The island’s moving on its own due to a malfunction in its magical protection.”

  “He’s searched for us so many times in the past,” another suit said, “he was bound to find us by dumb luck sooner or later.”

  Ambassador Kasey’s face flushed red. “How is this happening, Uxa? I need answers.”

  Uxa calmly replied. “The turmoil in your world is adversely affecting ours—starting with Providence Island. The Elders have warned the Brotherhood of the impending danger to our worlds. The magic protecting Providence Island is being interrupted by the increase in violence, desecration of the environment, and economic turmoil in yours. We’re losing control of cloaking it from Earth World navigation systems and the ability to move its location from one world to the other.”

  The ambassador placed his hands on his hips. “Do your job and fix the magic thing. My ass is on the line.”

  “My job?” Uxa could no longer hide her annoyance. “You’re the terrigen ambassador to the Living World, if you’d done your job, this wouldn’t be happening right now.”

  Ambassador Kasey muttered to himself and clustered around several suits to devise a next-step strategy.

  While they were alone, Van asked Uxa, “What exactly is his job?”

  Uxa kept her eyes on the ambassador as she answered Van.

  “The Brotherhood and the Elders decided that the terrigens needed protecting not only from unseen evil creatures but also from themselves. So, the Brotherhood decided to recruit a terrigen ambassador to the Living World about two decades ago. The ambassador’s job was to come here and learn about the delicate balance of our worlds and then go back and promote peace in the Earth World.”

  “Who was it? What happened to him?” Van assumed that Kasey wasn’t the first one.

  “The Brotherhood fixed the 2000 U.S. Presidential election so that a top member of the Brotherhood would win,” Uxa said in a low voice. “However, they saw value in his running mate, a good man, and they recruited him to become the first ambassador.”

  “As a sort of a consolation prize? Sounds like they felt guilty.” Van thought about the powerful men in the Brotherhood who she pegged as valuing only money, power, and control. She was surprised to hear about a display of empathy by the group.

  “He proved a perfect candidate. The public trusted him, he was politically influential and had served as vice president in the 1990s. The Brotherhood wanted someone the public already trusted, respected, and was familiar with to spread the word of peace. Alvin Gormond accepted without hesitation.”

  “Al Gormond?” Van paused to take in the enormity of this newest bit of information. “I’m not surprised he accepted. It meant he’d learn all our secrets.”

  “Exactly,” Uxa said. “However, he wasn’t happy only having access to the island and the complex. He insisted on traveling through the portal.”

  “Why was that a problem?” In his position, Van would want to see the Living World too. “It would’ve inspired a more passionate message about protecting the Earth World.”

  “We resisted authorizing his travel-through because he’s a terrigen,” Uxa said. “We tried bringing a terrigen U.S. President through the portal in the 1980s. Back in those days, they briefed presidents who weren’t already part of the Brotherhood. Afterward, he insisted on seeing the Living World. As you know, the only way to transport a terrigen through the portal is by using the Twin Gemstones. We attempted it, and it turned out poorly. He was rejected by the portal and suffered severe brain damage resulting in Alzheimer’s disease.”

  “You’re talking about—?” Van’s jaw slackened.

  Uxa nodded glumly. “That’s why the Brotherhood doesn’t brief the POTUS anymore. Anyway, we finally agreed to send Ambassador Gormond to Lodestar since the situation in the Earth World was so dire. Even back then, they were on the verge of self-destruction. Like you said, we believed sending him to the Living World would make him a more convincing messenger.”

  Van struggled to recall any information about Al Gormond. Did he get Alzheimer’s too?

  “We successfully brought the ambassador through the portal to Lodestar Station and showed him around Lodestar Village,” Uxa said. “He returned here without any brain damage. He went back to the mainland with a message of peace and ecological balance, to be ‘green,’ to help protect their planet.”

  “How did the Brotherhood know he wouldn’t tell everyone about us?”

  “They were confident he wouldn’t reveal our secrets for two reasons. One, no one would believe him. The public would think he went crazy. Two, he knew the Brotherhood would kill him.”

  “But something happened with him if I remember correctly.”

  “Yes.” Uxa nodded grimly. “The Brotherhood was wrong. A few years later, Ambassador Gormond spoke of that which must be kept secret. He told a handful of top government officials everything. However, unbeknownst to him, all of them were members of the Brotherhood. They were forced to discredit the ambassador, publicly. It didn’t take long before he agreed to stop, so there was no need to kill him. Oh, but they were close.”

  Van heard the shuffling of feet.

  Wild grunts echoed in the room, coming from a man that looked to be on the brink of insanity.

  “I knew it! I knew this place existed,” Myles said, as he staggered past, close to Van and the others.

  He was handcuffed, and flanked by six EWS agents. His black hair was an uncombed mess, his hazel eyes crazed. As he passed, Van noticed he wore a gold bracelet with an ornamental design around a half moon.

  “It’s real,” Myles muttered, wide-eyed.

  “Where’re they taking him?” Van asked Uxa as they watched Myles being shoved through a door.

  “Why don’t we let them do their job?” Uxa walked toward the exit, in the opposite direction the EWS agents had taken Myles. “Come. Let’s talk about your next mission.”

  Van followed but twisted around to take one last look at the closed door.

  A sudden awareness encroached on her thoughts. Her current situation and Myles’s were eerily similar.

  Both were obsessed with getting answers and with protecting their worlds.

  Both were being taken away without a choice.

  And both of their fates hung in the hands of people beyond their control.

  Chapter 9

  “I’m sorry you had to witness that,” Uxa said to Van as they entered her office in Marble Hall.

  “Sorry? It’s her fault Myles found us,” Tussel Fynn said. He was Uxa’s first assistant and always seemed to be hovering close to her.

  Fynn dressed similarly to Uxa, except with a slightly darker blue uniform. He had a mop of curly blond hair and a crooked nose. If he didn’t act like such an uptight, judgmental jerk, he would have been cute. He harbored animosity toward Van, and never said why. But, despite being impressed with Van’s retrie
val of the Coin of Creation, Fynn’s attitude conveyed the message that he still didn’t believe Van was worthy enough to carry the Anchoress bloodline.

  “My fault?” Van placed her palm on her chest for emphasis. “How so?”

  “By your presence. Your Anchoress light. It’s raising the island’s vibrational frequency.” Fynn’s body tensed, his words, hostile. “The increase in Myles’s followers is resulting in more and more terrigens searching to find the island.”

  “Darkness always seeks to destroy the light.” Van understood his point.

  “I’m worried.” He appeared to calm since Van agreed with him. “Myles finding the island proves that the discord in the Earth World is adversely affecting the harmony of Providence Island.”

  “I am in agreement with you.” Uxa seated herself at her desk. “But our problems run much deeper than Myles.” She indicated for Van to take a seat.

  By the grim look on Uxa’s face, Van needed to sit down, to brace herself for the coming briefing.

  “Last year, Solana gathered enough energy to conjure demons by tapping into the power of her ‘dark master,’ as you call it. But how did this master demon gain enough strength to reach Solana in the Living World?” Uxa clasped her hands and rested them on the desk. “As long as there is no world war in the Earth World, there’s not enough negativity to generate a demon with that kind of power. I think this master demon is different from any we’ve encountered before, and I fear it’s gaining strength.”

  “If Solana’s dark master is hiding somewhere in the Earth World, I’ll find it.” Van mentally packed her bags for a trip to the mainland, finally able to work in the field as a full-fledged Grigori.

  “No.” Uxa flattened her palms on her desktop and leaned forward, her eyes on Van. “I have a more important task for you.”

  Van’s shoulders slumped. Her dream of fighting demons in the field drifted farther away.

  “I need you to check on a seal during this Alignment.”