Island Jumper 4 Page 3

  “It’s been kind of shitty for me,” she said. “I’m, like, actually glad I don’t remember much of anything until I got here. But I do remember some…”

  Carmen had shared with us her experience with the Crultar. They had used some sort of drug on her early on. It sounded similar to Cass’s coma induced by snake venom, and I wondered if they had weaponized it somehow. She remembered them taking her and placing the black stone in her hand. They made her believe that if she dropped it, she would die. Plus, she said she liked the stone. It made her feel good. After that, it was just flashes of memories. She thinks they moved her a few times from island to island, but she couldn’t remember exactly. We didn’t push her either. She seemed fragile as if a dam of emotions was on the edge of breaking free.

  “You try using your power yet?” I asked as I set an ax in the hut.

  “I mean, like, a few times, but I just feel stupid, and nothing happens,” Carmen said with a shrug. “I wouldn’t believe any of this shit if you guys couldn’t show me what you do.”

  “It’s a lot to take in,” I said and hopped off the raft, landing next to her in the sand. “Come here.”

  She dragged her feet across the sand, getting close to me. She had gorgeous brown eyes.

  “What?” she asked.

  “I want to try something. I’m going to do my thing with the sea creatures, and I want you to block me.”

  “I don’t think I can.”

  “Hold my hands,” I said, reaching for hers.

  “Um, I don’t know. I have a boyfriend back home.”

  I smiled. “I think a physical connection to the person you are trying to block will help. Just a little hand-holding. I promise not to get you pregnant.”

  She gave a bashful laugh. “It’s just…the other girls…they love you, and I’m, like, more of a traditional kind of girl, if that’s okay.”

  “If holding hands for an experiment is a marriage proposal to you, then how about you just hold my wrists?”

  She smiled and reached for my wrists, gripping them loosely.

  “Okay, just take a few slow breaths and let some of the tension out from your muscles. Oh, and close your eyes.”

  She smirked and then closed her eyes.

  I took a breath and concentrated on the ocean. A fish and croc were near the shore, but I ignored the croc and focused on the easier prey, the sea bass. I took hold of it and got it to swim near the shoreline. It splashed in the shallows, and Carmen opened her eyes to see what it was.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “I’m controlling it, and it can’t hurt you.”

  She took another deep breath and gripped my wrists tighter.

  “Now, Carmen, close your eyes and concentrate on blocking my power.”

  She nodded and closed her eyes.

  The fish continued to flop around in the shallows, splashing as I sent a thought of fun to it, so as not to stress the fish. They were surprisingly easy to kill if they got too upset.

  “I think I feel something,” Carmen said, her breath picking up in speed, her dark, tanned chest heaving in her bikini.

  “Good, keep pushing.”

  “It’s like a bubble around me…I can almost feel it. I can feel you.” Carmen slid her soft hands down my wrists, gripping my hands in hers.

  The simple gesture felt electric.

  Carmen let out a soft moan. Not sexual, exactly, but close enough for me to take a swallow. Then I felt nothing as if a light switch had been flipped. I couldn’t feel the fish or anything else in the ocean. The cease of sensation took the breath from me in a long exhale, and I resisted pulling away from Carmen.

  The sea bass made one last splash before darting back into the deeper waters.

  “You’re doing it,” I said with encouragement. “I knew you could.”

  “I know. I can feel you. I can feel your…energy,” she said in a sultry tone, as if she was enjoying the physical sensations our connection brought.

  “Great, because I have a feeling we’re going to encounter people like us, with powers, and blocking them could save our lives.”

  She smiled, her bright brown eyes going wide in excitement. “It’s like a bubble around me. I can make it larger.”

  The leaves on a tree near me rustled. Then the feeling of the ocean that had been blocked from me crashed back, the shock of the information startling me. Carmen had let go of her power.

  “That was so cool,” she said.

  “So, it’s like a bubble?”

  “Yeah, like this ever-expanding dome. The more I push it, the bigger it gets…until my head started hurting.”

  “You think you could direct this dome? You know, like on a specific person?”

  “I don’t know. I just figured out how to do this, Jack,” she said, looking excited.

  “Well, work on it. It would be a lot more helpful if you could block someone.”

  “I will,” she said, looking at her hands as if for the first time.

  “Let me know when the headache goes down, and we can try again. The more you use it, the stronger it should get.”

  She rushed to me, hugging me.

  I staggered back a foot before I firmed my stance and held her. I hugged her back. She squeezed me tightly and then took a step back, beaming with a bright smile.

  “What was that for?” I asked.

  “You helped me figure out my purpose.”

  “I didn’t need you to have a power to have a purpose here,” I said.

  “Come on, Jack. You’ve been a little nervous of me since I’ve been here.”

  She wasn’t incorrect in that. The fact that she could sap our powers from us wasn’t lost on me, and all the more reason for her to figure out how to control it. Plus, she had held the stone, and more than once I’d seen her picking up black stones from the shoreline with enthusiasm only to be let down and throw the stone back into the sea. I had a feeling she was drawn to the stones, much like I was. A dangerous habit, and a truly terrifying thing for Benji, who said the stones were made of pure evil. We had come to the conclusion they were ruining the islands out here. Or, as Mario once said, they were “ripening” them for the king.

  “I have not been nervous of you,” I said.

  “That was a long pause before that answer, Jack,” she said with a laugh.

  “Okay, maybe just a little, but that was before I got to know you. We have similar backgrounds, you know.”

  “Oh yeah, your family was in the restaurant biz?”

  “No, but my parents were successful, wealthy, workaholics, and I was an only child.”

  “You don’t talk about your past much. I’d like to learn more about you, Jack Sawyer, and more ways we are similar.”

  Was she flirting with me?

  “It’s pretty boring. Just a kid from a rich construction family that was spoiled and decided to break away from the family normal and do something different.”

  “Yeah, I hear ya. Like, my dad, he wants me to be a CPA so he can have an accountant he can trust. I never even told him I’m not going into the family business.”

  “I was cleaning up construction sites at a young age. My dad would tell me that the workers needed to see the boss’s son as a worker—that way they’d give me respect when I became the boss.”

  She laughed. “Oh my God! That sounds like my dad. He would make me do the dishes, telling me the daughter of the owner should show that she doesn’t get special treatment, and my mom would make me roll thousands of tamales.”

  “See, we’re cut from the same cloth,” I said.

  “Yeah,” she said, rubbing her hand.

  A spear flew inches from my face and landed in the sand behind Carmen and me. I spun toward the seas and spotted a Crultar coming out of the water, pulling a long knife from the sheath at his hip.

  Carmen screamed and stumbled backward, falling back on the sand.

  I whistled as loud as I could and then pulled an ax from the pile near us. Behind the first Crultar, about five more were
coming out of the water. As the four in the back emerged from the water, I got so see what we were truly up against, as each of them had a creature next to them— one I’d never seen before.

  They looked like a chimpanzee but with slick, black skin and a larger face that had two fangs sticking out from their wide mouths. They slapped at the water and screeched as they glared at me. Their masters held them back as the sea chimps yelled in a growing chorus of manic anger.

  The closest Crultar made a hand motion, sending all four of the sea chimps raging through the water, coming right for Carmen and me. The Crultar surged behind them, moving at the same speed. Shit, they moved fast.

  Chapter 6

  I positioned myself in front of Carmen as she cowered on the sand, terrified at what was coming for us. The fact that I hadn’t felt this army coming for us bothered me. The chances that it happened right when Carmen was blocking me couldn’t have been a coincidence.

  Closing my eyes, I felt them all: four primates and five Crultar men. They were warriors, ready to kill us all. They weren’t panicked but confident—almost arrogant—we weren’t going to be much of a fight at all.

  The largest one upfront neared me, rearing back a long blade. His blueish skin dripped from the ocean water, and the square tattoo on his chest blazoned the same way as I’d seen the rest of the Crultar.

  I held out my hand and used my power to enter their minds. All five of them froze because I told them to. I groaned as I tried to break through to the sea chimps, but they were a brick wall to my efforts. Each of them screeched as their masters stopped moving. Confusion slowed them for a moment, but then they kept rushing toward us, leaving their masters behind.

  The closest sea primate came at me, squealing in delight as it did. I could feel the hate and joy radiating out from it. They wanted to kill us and tear out the soft parts of our bodies, and they were going to enjoy doing it. Saliva dripped from their mouths as they cleared the water and got onto the sand.

  Locking down the five big Crultars took most of my mental power, but I still tried to break through to the first sea chimp.

  A hand wrapped around mine and Emma stood to my right, holding her bat with her free hand.

  Benji, Sherri, and Kara were right behind her. They slid in, kicking up sand and staring down the beasts with no fear. They all held weapons at the ready.

  “Take out the chimps,” I said, feeling the pain growing in my head.

  With Emma there to amplify, the power swelled in me and pushed harder at the first chimp. A door in its mind shattered, and right at the moment I was seizing it, an arrow lodged right in its skull and its consciousness blinked out.

  The sudden blackness of it shocked me, and a chill wash over me. I never liked being connected to something as it died. The cold, blackness in the wake of death was unsettling.

  Emma’s hand gripped mine tighter. She knew everything I had in my head, and while I didn’t want to hide anything from her, I hoped she didn’t have the same experience I did.

  “I’m right as rain with you, Jack. Never you worry,” Emma whispered. “Now, why don’t we kill these things the natural way?”

  She let go of my hand, and I sucked in a breath. It took my total control to keep the five held, but as soon as the girls moved forward to advance on the ocean apes, the primates stopped. I felt the change in them in an instant, as if some great realization popped into their heads.

  A second later, they attacked the Crultar. The first one jumped onto the sea man, biting into his neck. The jagged teeth tore into its flesh, ripping open an artery. Blood spewed from the man’s neck, and I felt the pain screaming from him. The other four had just as quick a resolution as the sea chimps fell on them and ripped and tore.

  The girls stopped their forward progression. All any of us could do was watch in horror.

  “Holy shit,” Aubrey said.

  “They’re tearing them up worse than a fat man at a pie-eating competition,” Emma said.

  “Lard ass, lard ass, lard ass!” Benji chants with an awkward smile.

  “This is gruesome, Benji, you weirdo,” Aubrey said, looking away from the spectacle.

  And a spectacle it was. The beasts were as fierce as anything I’d ever seen, and I wondered what had made these things turn on the smallest of dimes. The sound of them tearing at the Crultar made my stomach churn, and I wanted more than anything to drop my connection with them, but I couldn’t give the Crultar a single chance to harm us.

  “They might turn back onto us after they’re done,” I said.

  “Bring it,” Eliza said, joining the fight with a pair of stone daggers.

  “Sorry,” Shaya said behind us.

  I glanced back at our very own woman of the sea, and I knew she wanted to speak so badly—she was shaking. Tears ran down her face as she gave me a pleading expression.

  The massacre was nearing its end as the men’s lights were being extinguished. I felt each one with disgust.

  “Kill them,” I said.

  The girls nodded and moved forward, throwing and shooting their weapons at the remaining chimps. Two of the soaking wet primates took arrows, spears, and even an ax to the chest or head, killing them in a near-instant.

  The last one, however, stood straighter and caught the spear hurled his way in its large hand. It raised its hand high up, palm out as if telling us to stop.

  “Wait,” I said as the girls readied another assault to finish off this last creature. “I think it’s trying to communicate something.”

  I reached out to it, feeling it as the last living creature among its group. Before, I had felt anger and joy in the creature’s heart, but now, there was just this coolness to it, as if it wasn’t facing a group of people that could kill it in an instant but rather a more amused sense of pride.

  It dropped the spear it caught in the shallow waters and then wiped its hands. Such a human gesture coming from something wholly unhuman was disturbing to watch, as if the creature had been playing the role of an animal the whole time but now decided to express its sentient behavior for us. That was another emotion I felt from it, an arrogance, a superiority above us, as if we were the simple creatures that it would use to amuse itself with.

  “This ape creeps me the fuck out,” Aubrey said, ready to throw her spear. “Let me kill it.”

  A trickle of blood ran down the nose of the chimp, and I felt a growing pain coming from the creature. A pain it ignored entirely.

  “Jack, we should kill it,” Sherri said.

  “It’s trouble, Jack,” Eliza said.

  It walked toward us, more upright than seemed normal, and with one foot in crossing over the front of the other. A model-walking sea chimp…and just when I thought I’d seen everything these islands had. The chimp stopped a good thirty feet from us, and with the girls ready to unleash on this thing, I didn’t have any fear that it could hurt us.

  It smiled, a toothy smile that showed the jagged teeth inside. It might have been an attempt to ease the situation, but it made it all the creepier.

  “You.” It spoke in a breathy way. “My dearie, you really do exist.”

  A trail of blood ran over its mouth, staining its teeth in red.

  “Who are you?” I asked, knowing for sure that this chimp was no longer in charge of its body. “Are you the king?”

  The chimp laughed.

  “Please, let me kill it,” Benji said, pulling back an arrow, the string on her bow groaning from the strain.

  “This body will be dead soon, my dear boy,” it said in a soft breath, laced with femininity. “Sweetie, I am not the king, and that you don’t know who I am, means all the rumors are true because all who exist on these islands learn my name.”

  “Lyra,” Shaya said.

  I glanced back at her, but she seemed embarrassed at the acknowledgment.

  “You have a Shultar with you…interesting,” it said, with the S dragging out like a snake. “I only have moments left with this host, so I will say this. I am on the o
ther side of the barrier. Come to me, my pretty people, I need you, we all do, and you need me. I can get you to where you belong, but you have to hurry.”

  “No,” I said.

  “Please don’t test me, boy.”

  It raised a hand, its white palms facing out. That’s when I felt my power turn off, and I tried to move but couldn’t. I looked to the women, and they were in a frozen state of animation as well.

  “What the…” I grunted out.

  Then the freeze broke, and I stumbled forward toward the possessed primate. An arrow hit it in the head, but it had already started falling to the sand, dead.

  Chapter 7

  I paced on the sand near the girls, glancing at the dead chimp to make sure it didn’t resurrect.

  “Shaya, come here,” I said.

  She looked timid but came and stood in front of me. Emma stood next to her, and they held hands.

  “Who or what was that?”

  “Lyra, on the other side. Nothing good comes from there.”

  “Dude, that thing said it knows how to get us back home,” Aubrey said.

  “You think that’s possible?” Cass said, a spark of hope in her eyes.

  “She lies,” Shaya said.

  “Have you seen her?” I asked.

  Shaya shook her head in a no. “I didn’t know she existed. Just scary stories for kids.”

  “Great, she’s some boogeyman,” Kara said. “I bet if we found her island, it’d feel as terrible as Yin Island.”

  “She’s dangerous, but I get a feeling she can help us with something,” Eliza said.

  “Do you think she has one of our girls?” Benji asked.

  “I don’t think so…but she is planning on something now that involves them,” Eliza said, putting her hand on her head.

  “Shaya, Lyra said she’s on the other side of the barrier, what you called the king’s realm. Is Hanna on the other side of this barrier?”

  “No, she’s on this side, with us.”

  Emma winced and then took a deep breath.

  “Is she aligned with your kind?”

  Shaya shook her head.

  “Is she aligned with the king then?”