Chapter 70

When I finally entered the house I found Micheal pacing around the dining room while occasionally glancing at the laptops set up on the dining room table. Heather, Kevin, Brandon, and Brian were each concentrating on the computers as they searched for whatever news Micheal had them looking for. Karen and Megan were standing by the stairs to the basement talking quietly with each other.

As soon as I closed the back door behind me Courtney appeared by my side without warning. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I noticed her and had to restrain myself from conjuring a shadowfire ball. "Damn it Courtney you nearly scared the shit out of me." I grumbled aloud.

Courtney looked a bit guilty for a moment. "Sorry, I was just worried that you might be mad at Chewy." she told me.

I sighed, as I let myself consider that honestly. Part of me was angry, I was sure the dog could have held Felix down while I tried to fix whatever was causing the madness. Yet I couldn't be sure of that and the dog had saved me when I froze up. Though I shouldn't ignore the fact that the dog probably had some vendetta against the cats with the way he came running into the yard with them hot on his heels. Despite that I still couldn't bring myself to be mad at him. Not with that final look Felix had given me when he broke our bond, right before Chewy intervened.

I let out a loud sigh then I shook my head. "No I am not mad at him. I think it could have been resolved better, but he did save me so…" I said then shrugged.

Courtney stared at me for a few moments then relaxed. "That is good then." she said, sounding relieved.

I shrugged again then walked over to where Micheal had stopped his pacing and was now staring at Heather's laptop. I met Karen and Megan's gazes and gave them a smile before concentrating on Micheal. "So how is it going out there?" I asked as I reached his side.

Micheal looked over at me before he looked back at the laptop. "Bad." he told me. "Those rifts, gates, holes in the wall, whatever you want to call them, they were open for over a hour. A lot of stuff came through. The worst part is it was global. Those things seemed to appear more frequently where there were a lot of people." he explained.

I frowned, over an hour? Had it really been that long? "I see." I said though I was kind of dazed.

Micheal looked at me for a moment, "You saw how many of those things had appeared here right?" he asked me.

I nodded. "If by things you mean the spatial cracks. Yeah, and it looked like there were more of them closer to the city center." I replied.

Micheal nodded. "Yeah, that is what we are seeing too." he confirmed. "But think about it Daryl, Phoenix might be the fifth largest city in the US, but we aren't even in the top twenty for the world." Micheal told me.

I frowned. "You don't need to beat around the bush Micheal. Just say that others got it worse than we did." I told him.

Micheal snorted. "I could, but you wouldn't understand how much worse they got it, or what that means to us." he told me.

I thought about that. He might be right, but I wasn't going to admit that. I could understand what that meant for us. Help wasn't coming. "Anything else?" I asked.

Micheal nodded, "Yeah, the president might be dead." he replied.

I flinched. I didn't like our current president or some of his policies, but we really didn't need a power vacuum right now.

"One of those rifts appeared right over the white house. A lot of shit came out of that one, then something big came out and pretty much flattened the whole place." he told me.

"Something big?" I asked.

Micheal shrugged. "The videos aren't very clear, but those who saw it and got away are saying it looked a lot like one of those giant worms from Dune, or Tremors."

I shivered at the thought. "Fuck." I said with a sigh then looked at Micheal. "So what is the really bad news?" I asked having known Micheal well enough to tell he was leading up to something.

Micheal shook his head. "The national guard has shown up, but they aren't going to be much help. No one has said anything but I would guess they had some of their own trouble with the twisted from within. Besides there are just too many monsters to clear."

I just stared at him waiting for him to get to the point. While the spatial cracks had been something we didn't anticipate, very little of what he said directly affected us. While that might seem cold, it was still true.

"Instead of trying to clear the city, they advised everyone to evacuate the city. Supposedly they are setting up several camps out to the west." Micheal continued. "And they um…. They are demanding you show up and assist them."

Initially I was reassured because we were on the east side of the valley. Then I blinked a few times as I realized what else he said. "Me? Specifically me?" I asked.

Micheal nodded then pointed at the laptop. "Yeah, you specifically. Apparently you are pretty famous now." he said.

I looked at the laptop to see a video of me peering out of my portal and talking to the firebird that had been trying to get through the spatial crack. From the angle and without audio it looked more like I had faced down the firebird and made it retreat.

"Videos like that are all over the net right now." Micheal told me. "Some of those videos were pretty clear. I am guessing they pulled up your info from the MVD."

I frowned, "Wouldn't they have to get the FBI involved for facial recognition?" I asked in return.

Micheal shook his head. "I doubt it. I bet the local law enforcement have their own they could use."

I groaned and shook my head. I had no intention of turning myself in to them. I might be strong, but I barely had a handle on my abilities, and there were plenty that I hadn't even used yet. I wasn't a selfless hero. While I was sure I could help if I went to the national guard, I was also sure they would keep sending me out on missions that would put my life in danger.

"Not going." I told Micheal who nodded in response as if he already knew that would be my decision.

"Can we at least call them?" Heather spoke up from where she was sitting in front of the laptop. "We could tell them what we know about the abilities so they can better help people."

I looked down at her for a moment. What she said wasn't a bad idea in theory, but at the same time it could be a truly horrible idea. It all depended on the national guard.

Loud barking saved me from having to answer immediately. Sil in her silver haired cat form came flying, literally flying, into the dining room followed quickly by a very angry Chewy.

Chewy spotted me and turned his attention away from Sil to me and growled. "We just got rid of the last ones, how could you bring a new one in?" he asked angrily.

"That is Sil. She did the same thing Delilah did, just to that female cat." I replied. While I spoke clearly so everyone understood who Sil was, I was also glaring at Chewy angrily.

Chewy quickly realized he had made a mistake and backed up a few steps but didn't leave. "The air elemental?" Chewy asked his tone much calmer and less confrontational.

I nodded.

"I tried to tell you that." Sil said as she flew over to me and settled on my shoulders. I reached up and scratched her behind the ears which caused her to purr. "Oh, that is odd." she commented to herself while pushing her head into my hand.

I chuckled and kept scratching for a few more moments before I stopped.

"So?" Heather asked, unwilling to give up on the subject.

I bit at my lip as I considered it then looked over at Bill who had followed Chewy into the room. "Bill any thoughts of clueing the national guard into how to use abilities."

Bill considered it for a moment, looked at his son for a moment. "Are you planning to go help them out?" he asked looking back at me.

I shook my head.

"Then one of us should call them. It won't be the best case scenario, but more lives will be saved if they know how to use the abilities." he told me. "I personally think either I or John should call them."

"Not me?" I asked.

"No, we can't give away what we don't know." Bill replied.

I frowned, was he accusing me of keeping secrets? He wasn't wrong, but we had too many strangers here for me to give out everything we knew. Besides there wasn't much I hadn't said.

"Don't fret about it lad." Bill said as he walked up to me and patted me on my free shoulder. "I can understand wanting to keep a couple of aces up your sleeve." he told me.

That didn't really make me feel any better, but I also wasn't going to say anything. Of everyone who could benefit from knowing how to advance the abilities to the next stage, Tracy might be someone I could trust enough to tell, but I wasn't sure. Of those I knew I could trust only my girls were advancing to copper cores, and they already knew how to do it. As such revealing it to everyone wasn't something I planned on doing.

I nodded to Bill but kept silent.