“Look behind us,” Jack said. He kept his eyes on the road and hands loose on the steering wheel, ready to maneuver the vehicle.

“What am I looking for?” Ann asked.

“Any missionaries?”

“Not that I see.”

“Good,” Jack said. “I don’t think they’re with Darean.”

“Why not?” Ann said.

“If Darean sent them, they would have mind-melded us like Janile did at my apartment.”

“Maybe the missionaries are with the woman,” she said.

“Could be,” Jack said as he spun the steering wheel, pulling into the school parking lot. “But I doubt it. That woman had power. She was either a rival Nostshu or Shen.”

“And she did save us.”

“That doesn’t mean she isn’t some other devil we haven’t met yet.”

“We’re late, class has started.”

“Should we skip the professor and head to the library?” he asked.

“No, I’ll pull the professor out of class.”

“What if he doesn’t come with you?”

“I’ll make him,” she said, pulling the car door open as Jack shut off the engine.

“I’ll wait outside the classroom. If any bad guys show up, I’ll sound the alarm.”

Ann dug a phone out of her backpack as they walked across the parking lot.

“Give me your phone and I’ll load my number in it,” she said.

“Good idea.” He pulled his phone out and unlocked it, handing it to her as they walked into a large brick building. A tarnished brass plate next to the door read “Spratt Hall.” Just beyond the glass doors was a wide hallway lined with classrooms and bulletin boards.

“This is a bad idea,” Jack said. His voice sounded hollow in the empty hallway.

“I know.”

“I have a bad feeling.”

“I know,” Ann said, tapping the side of her head.

“Oh, right.”

He focused on the spot that was Ann in his mind, and he could feel her apprehension too.

“There it is,” she said, pointing down the hallway to the left. She handed his phone back before reaching into her bag and pulling out a book. Advanced Statistics. She pressed it into his hands.

He shook his head. “I would rather fight monsters,” he said.

“Just look busy while you look for bad guys. I’ll be out in two minutes with the professor.”

Jack sat on a bench two doors down from her classroom. Opening the statistics book on his lap, he watched Ann walk down the empty hallway. As she walked away, without thinking, he stared at the curve of her hips in the low riding jeans. He could make out just a hint of tan skin under her form-fitting Green Lantern t-shirt. He blinked, looking up as she spun. Her green eyes gleamed as she looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. He wondered if she could see an image of her backside through him, like looking at herself in a mirror.

“What?” he said, raising his hands.

He felt her embarrassment and a hint of amusement. He would have to figure out a way to block her connection so she didn’t read stray and involuntary thoughts. And what would happen if he was intimate with another woman? Would she experience the whole thing? What if he was intimate with her? What would that feel like? Was she reading his mind right now or was it a mass of incoherent thoughts like she described the night before?

He tried to think about something else but images of Ann in her towel that morning and Kim’s bare mid-drift and muscular legs raced through his mind. Memories from his last intimate encounter followed those. How long ago was that? A year? It was a chance encounter involving lots of alcohol, black lingerie, and stockings. Her eyes widened and both her eyebrows shot up. He blinked and looked down at the statistics book, willing the alien numbers and graphs to push the uncontrollable thoughts from his mind. He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the door open and shut.

A few moments later, terror from Ann flooded his mind. He dropped the book and jumped to his feet, taking a step toward the classroom door. A man wearing a dark suit and shiny shoes stepped around the opposite corner. They reached the door at the same time. Jack put his hand on the knob, looking up into the man’s cloudy gray eyes. This was no missionary. He looked like Janile.

“Excuse me, is your name, Jack?” the man asked as he placed his palm on the door.

“Sorry, I’m late for class,” Jack said.

He caught a glimpse of Ann through the door’s window. She was standing on the opposite side of the room with another black-suited man in front of her. The professor stood against the far wall and students sat frozen at their desks. Red waves of fear flowed out of everyone except the man in front of Ann.

“I need you to come with me,” the man holding the door said. His voice was soft, and his gray cataract-stricken eyes seemed to pull him in. Jack shivered and took a deep breath before delivering a quick jab to the man’s nose. The Nost stumbled back but recovered quickly. Jack didn’t have time to square off with him. Instead, he grabbed his suit jacket in both hands and launched him toward the door. To Jack’s surprise, the man plunged through the door in a shower of glass, wood, and electrical current.

“Oops,” Jack said, glass crunching loudly under his hiking boots as he stepped over the classroom’s threshold. Smoldering burn marks snaked along the door frame.

“You—” the man in front of Ann began before doubling over, clutching the back of his head. Ann stood behind him, gripping a laptop in both hands. A crack ran down the middle of the casing. Jack stepped forward and delivered a kick to the man’s face. His nose exploded in a torrent of blood as he flew backward, landing with a thud between them.

“I told you this was a bad idea,” Jack said.

“I know,” she said.

“Maybe we can get some information out of them,” he said, glancing behind him before offering his hand to Ann. She dropped the laptop on the professor’s desk and took his hand, stepping over the prone man between them.

“I’ve never hit anyone,” Ann said, looking down at the man.

“You did a fine job.”

Ann looked up at the professor and said, “Sorry about the mess Professor, but I think we need your help.”

The students stood behind the professor, huddled in the far corner now, separated from Jack and Ann by rows of desks. Fear and awe rolled into Jack from everyone except Ann. Anger, outrage, and frustration were warring for dominance inside of her. Maybe that was the emotional cocktail for resolve?

Jack let go of her hand and turned to inspect the man he had thrown through the door. As he kneeled beside him though, strands of electricity engulfed him, leaping from the floor all around. It twisted and turned, diving into his body. His muscles seized, and the room blurred into one indistinguishable mass before fading to blackness.

Ann’s scream mixed with his own.

***

Jack charged through a green field on a white horse with black spots. A blue dragon filled the sky in front of him. It had nearly transparent wings and a long tail that slashed back and forth as it wove its way through the sky. He tugged the reins, bringing his horse to a skidding halt. In the distance, a castle reached into the sky. It was a behemoth with towering parapets and white spires. He swung his steed around to find six riders perched on massive black and white horses behind him. The men grasped gleaming swords and wore long blue tunics over chain mail. Strands of electricity writhed up and down the metal. The horse’s eyes were wide, and their sides heaved as they stomped the ground, tossing heads back and forth.

“What war is this?” Jack asked, resting his hand on the hilt of his sword. It felt like the most natural thing to do in this place.

“Easy child,” came a woman’s voice below him.

Jack looked down to find Millae.

“Millae, what’s happening?” Jack asked.

“I need your help,” she said, stroking his horse's neck.

The scene before him slowed before freezing altogether. The blue dragon hung in the sky with his enormous wings stretched wide. Men and horses stood frozen in place. The sudden absence of breeze was jarring.

“Why is there a dragon?” he asked, looking up at the beast. “How is there a dragon?”

“The Shen engineered them.”

“Why?” he asked, still looking at the animal frozen in flight.

“Why not?” she said.

“I think it was a dark time,” he said, shards of broken memories flashing through his mind. Shen technology hoarded as Nost and humans struggled to survive after the Burn.

“It wasn’t all dark,” she said.

“I should remember more,” he said. “You said I would remember.”

“I know, child. Perhaps Jode’s remnant prevented your awakening, or something else interfered. But it doesn’t matter. You bonded with Ann and the Shen madness will not come to you. Now you must find me. Only then will you see,” she said.

“How can this be real?” Jack said.

Millae’s blue-black hair hung around her oval face without a breeze to stir it, and she peered up at him with sympathy in her bright green eyes.

“Darean said we’re cursed. That Shen burned the world,” he said.

“Maybe we all burned the world, child,” she said, looking out across the unmoving grass. “But we can fix it now. If you find me. Some will try to stop you, but you must not let them.”

“The age of light,” Jack said.

“And you, the General of Light,” Millae said. “You see now?” She narrowed her eyes as she studied him.

“Only fragments.”

“The Shen who died in the Burn were reborn into the second age,” she said. “ONUS created Haven and the In-Between. But in the physical, everyone struggled against extinction. After the Burn came the great flood and newly downloaded Shen were fractured, born into inferior bodies. Now, with each rebirth, you must bond with another to combine your empathic and telepathic abilities.”

“To keep away the Shen madness.”

She nodded.

“And we sang the world at the Isle of Song after the Burn?” Jack asked.

“And during the Origin war, we sang, before the Burn. I am here still, under the Isle, in the great Lab. ONUS keeps us apart, but you can bring me back into the physical. We can bring another age of light to the world. But we must move quickly.”

“Before the Origin War, we designed ONUS in the Lab based on old settler technology.”

“That’s right,” she said. “It was created to update and advance Nostshen abilities. Like the old ONUS system that reached all the OLUs across the stars.”

“But the humans started to worship ONUS, instead of us.”

“Find me and I will tell you everything about our history and the settlers who created us.”

“The Organic Network Update System code has spread through the planet…” Jack said, his voice trailing off as he studied the virtual landscape. “This can’t be real. I’m not here in this place with you.”

“It is like the In-between Jack, you remember?” she said.

“The cemetery and the old man. And Jode is out of my head now.” Jack said, trying to focus.

“And you have found Ann—”

“But I don’t know what to do now,” Jack said. “We’re being hunted.”

“You need your—”

“Who was I before?”

“It doesn’t matter, you are Jack now and you must—”

“You called me the General of Light.”

“You must find the Isle of Song, Jack, your totem is the key—” she said.

“What?”

“It’s the only way to reach the Isle and find me.”

“What’s a totem?” Jack asked.

“Get out of here!” The words burst from Millae’s lips in a rough male voice. Sorrow crept into her bright green eyes. “Your consciousness is shifting, Jack, I can’t hold on,” she said in her own voice. “Find your totem and you find the gateway to the Isle of—”

Light flooded his vision. He saw a policeman with a dark, angry face. Squeezing his eyes shut, he focused on Millae and her voice. Blue-black hair and brilliant green eyes. But as he imagined them, they shifted into Ann’s green eyes and he could feel her all around him. Her presence grew inside him until he was Ann. She was blinking and groping in complete blackness. A smooth wooden surface in front of her smelled like pine. She slid her fingers over the polished wood grain and discovered the sides and top. She imagined a coffin and choked down a sudden panic. Her limbs felt heavy, and she realized she was resting at a severe angle.

“Jack,” she whispered.

“I’m here,” he said, but no sound came. Her awareness mingled with his in a disorienting jumble of thoughts and emotions. The touch of her fingers on the wood and the feel of her body from the inside paralyzed him. She wiggled her bare toes and felt the wood grain beneath her feet. Jack wanted to groan and scream at the same time. A silky-smooth material lay across her skin, stopping inches above her knees. She imagined a small dress and Jack could see her thought, wondering if this is what it was like to be a telepath.

She concentrated on her breathing and tried to remember what happened. Her nerve endings felt like they were buzzing. It wasn’t painful now, but she could tell that it had been. She was in the classroom when Jack threw someone through the door. She jolted forward at the memory and smacked her forehead against wood. They fought two men and then Janile showed up! He appeared out of nowhere, hitting Jack with a storm of lightning, before turning on her. She remembered stepping over Jack’s body, throwing punches toward Janile. But, of course, it was no use and his lightning consumed her.

“Is she still unconscious?” Muffled voices floated to her through the blackness. She held her breath and Jack imagined holding his.

“I believe she is master.”

“Good, and you have prepared her for the questioning?”

The first voice was Janile’s, and the second was Darean’s. Her heart raced as she fought the urge to pound her fists against the wood. But panic would only draw attention. She closed her eyes, and pushing down her emotions, thought of Jack. He was alive. He would come for her. She could feel him nestled in her mind. Jack screamed, but she did not hear him.

“Yes Master, she is a fine human,” Janile said.

“She is a strong Shen Janile,” Darean said, pausing. “Maybe the strongest I’ve seen this age.”

“Do you think she will lead us to the Isle of Song?” Janile asked.

“I don’t know, but if the boy is who I think he is and has bonded with her, there is a chance,” Darean said. “If not, I will serve her blood to the chosen of the horde before evolving her to serve us.”

“We are nearly ready, sire.”

“Very well.”

Silence followed and Ann pulled in a deep breath, trying not to tremble.

“She stirs,” Darean said.

Ann squeezed her eyes shut, balling her fists. “Please,” she whispered. “Please, no.”

“Sleep,” Darean’s soft voice drifted to her.

The blackness invaded her mind. Heart slowing, she settled onto the hardwood surface below her. Awareness spun away from her body. After what felt like an eternity, she heard a woman’s gentle voice call to her.

“Ann.”

A hand stroked her hair.

“They’re going to kill me,” Ann whispered.

“Easy child.” Millae’s voice.

“Where is Jack, Mother?” A small part of her wondered why she called this woman mother. That same part of her longed to be back at school or working at the coffee shop. Living dull but safe days.

“He is coming, child, stay strong.”

The fingers running through her long auburn hair sent pleasant vibrations down her spine. “I’m dreaming,” Ann said.

“You are in my realm, the In-between, on your way to the dream child.”

“You’re Millae?” Ann asked. Her own voice sounded far away and muted.

“I am.”

“Why can’t I remember more?” Ann asked.

“Find me and you will.”

The sound of rushing water engulfed her, and she slipped down into blackness, alone.

***

Shapes and colors merged until they formed a hospital room. Jack was lying on a bed. Every nerve ending in his body tingled and his muscles ached. A flat-screen television hung on the wall across from him. Below it, an overweight policeman in a wrinkled blue uniform sat in a chair, looking out into the hallway. His dark uniform and ebony skin contrasted with the colorless hospital room. Jack twisted his body toward the door, and with a clang, discovered that he was handcuffed to the bed rail.

“Get out of here!” the policeman said again. It was the same voice that defiled Millae’s in his dream. “I told you to move on.”

“I just need to check the—”

“No, you don’t, come back at shift change,” the policeman said. The person must have walked away because the policeman turned to Jack.

“You’re awake.”

Jack nodded. “What happened?”

“You tell us,” the policeman said. His name tag read “Stangle.” He held his finger up to Jack and pulled out his phone. “Hold on, while I call the detective.”

A few beads of sweat dotted the officer’s forehead and the buttons of his shirt struggled against his bulk. A steady trickle of annoyance was on the surface of the man’s emotions, but below there seemed to be a more powerful loathing. It might have been disgust. Jack couldn’t tell for sure, but he didn’t think it was all directed at him. There were deeper, more negative emotions at work in the man. He lay back in his bed and closed his eyes, trying to remember how he got here.

Blackness.

A coffin.

Ann.

He sat up and yanked his wrist against the handcuffs.

“I have to find Ann,” he said.

“Quiet,” officer Stangle said, glaring at him. He raised his finger again as he pressed the phone to his ear.