Thirteen Forgotten Worlds (Seam Wardens Book 1) Read online

  Maybe it was time to check some of the facts my younger self supposedly said.

  “In the video, younger me said that you had really cool weapons.”

  “That’s right,” said Tamara. “We do.”

  “Can I see some?” I asked.

  The two of them exchanged a glance and then Spencer reached into a vest pocket and pulled out two rods, each approximately a foot long and about half-an-inch in diameter. They were black and appeared to be made out of metal.

  I was less than impressed.

  “Your cool weapons are two sticks?” I asked. “Clearly my standards of what defines ‘cool’ have changed since I was ten.”

  “Now don’t go turning your nose up already,” said Spencer. “First off, did you notice which pocket I pulled them out of?”

  I pointed to a small pocket a few inches from the bottom of the vest.

  “That’s right,” said Spencer. “Any idea how sticks this long could fit in that tiny pocket?”

  He had a point. The sticks couldn’t have fit into that pocket. I must have somehow identified the wrong pocket.

  “No," said Spencer, anticipating my objection. “You picked the right pocket.” He took the sticks and stuck them into the pocket. They disappeared into the tiny pocket that was much too shallow to contain them.

  It must be some sort of magic trick or illusion. I had seen magicians do some pretty crazy things that were ultimately just tricks. I reached out and touched the pocket where the rods were. The pocket felt flat and empty.

  “Trans-dimensional storage,” Spencer said. “They aren’t really in the pocket. The opening of the pocket is a tiny portal that leads to a different location." He reached his hand into the pocket and pulled out the rods.

  I stared hard trying to see how the trick was performed. But no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't figure it out.

  “But that isn’t even the best thing,” Spencer said. “The sticks themselves are much more impressive. When you stayed with us, you were always fascinated by the Boom Sticks. Kept begging us to let you practice with them.”

  Boom Sticks? I had no idea what that even meant, but something about the name sent a thrill of excitement through me as if I knew on a visceral level what they were capable of.

  “Oh, go on and show him,” said Tamara. “Maybe it'll jog his memory a bit.”

  Spencer took the sticks and held one in each hand and grinned. “Now, watch closely.”

  He turned away from the path to face into the woods. He smacked the two sticks together in front of him so they formed an X. The trees in front of Spencer suddenly burst apart and flew thirty feet away. A swath of damage three-feet-wide extended from where Spencer stood to where the trees had landed.

  Spencer smiled at Pierce. “Boom Sticks. Smack them together and they create a powerful compression wave with a somewhat tight line of travel. Obviously, the closer you are to an object or creature, the more damage it does. You can also vary the power depending upon how hard you hit them together.”

  I took all this in without speaking a word. I had the most intense feeling of déjà vu. It felt like I had seen the Boom Sticks before, but I had no idea where or when.

  Unless I believed what Spencer and Tamara were telling me.

  “Look,” said Tamara. “I know this is a lot to take in. We get that. But we want to have the chance–”

  A sudden change in the air cut her off. It was as if the air around them suddenly... compressed. The only way I could describe it was that the air now felt heavy.

  Spencer once again pulled out the twin metal cylinders from his pocket. He pulled them apart to reveal the screen and quickly scanned it. When he was done, the screen rolled back into the tubes.

  “What is it?” asked Tamara.

  “Another breach.”

  “But we’re not on active duty today.”

  “It’s a class three breach. There’s no one else around that can take it.”

  Tamara closed her eyes and inhaled slowly, clearly annoyed. “Fine,” she said. But she said it through gritted teeth and clearly didn’t sound fine.

  She turned to me and put a hand on my shoulder. I was very conscious of the feel of it. “Look,” she said. “I know how crazy this sounds. I know you’re skeptical and confused. I would be too in your situation. Unfortunately, we don’t have time to explain any more right now. Can we talk to you again tomorrow?”

  I hesitated. Did I want to keep talking with them? Part of me was convinced they had escaped from a mental hospital but another part of me – the part that kept feeling déjà vu as they spoke – wanted to believe them.

  “Ok,” I finally said. If I changed my mind, I could avoid them... probably.

  Spencer and Tamara exchanged a glance that I couldn’t read.

  “That’s great,” said Tamara. She flashed me a wide smile.

  There was something about that smile that felt familiar to me. I felt the sudden urge to hug her but quickly dismissed that as weird and creepy. I had just met her.

  And she was old.

  Well, older anyway.

  “Meet us at the Thai place you like down on the corner of Fifth and Main,” said Spencer. “Tomorrow at noon.”

  I did a double take. How did they even know I liked Thai food, let alone what specific restaurants I liked? I opened my mouth to ask, but before I could get out a word, they had completely disappeared.

  I suddenly found myself alone in the middle of the trail completely confused and wondering if what had just happened could have possibly been real.

  2

  Smack Down at the Restaurant

  I finished my run with the music off, thinking about what just happened.

  Tamara and Spencer.

  Could what they told me possibly be true? I liked science fiction and fantasy as much as the next guy, but I didn’t actually believe any of it was real.

  But what about the Boom Sticks? How could I explain that? Or how Spencer slid them into a pocket that was way too small?

  Not to mention the video. I had thought that disproving a video of myself as a kid would be pretty easy, but I couldn’t find any flaws in it.

  Except for the fact that I had no recollection of having recorded it.

  Which fit with their story that I had lived with them when I was ten and then forgot everything about it when I left.

  But how was that possible? I had lived with my parents until the accident. I remembered that much. Then, I stayed in a hospital in critical condition for several months after the accident before eventually moving in with my aunt and uncle.

  But I had no recollection of my time in the hospital. I never had. My doctors had told me that was common for severe accidents and traumatic experiences. What I did have was a jagged scar on my shoulder as proof of the accident, but other than that, I had no memory of the car wreck at all.

  What if it wasn’t the injury or repressed memories that were responsible for my memory lapse? What if what Tamara and Spencer told me was actually true?

  Could those things possibly be real?

  They were starting to feel that way.

  After my run was over, I drove back home. My uncle’s house was large, even by California standards. It was part of a gated community of other multi-million dollar homes. It had a tennis court, basketball court, and a huge swimming pool complete with its own waterfall. The house had so many bedrooms and bathrooms that I wasn’t entirely sure I had actually been in all of them.

  To say my uncle was well off would be a bit of an understatement. Loaded, or perhaps disgustingly rich, might have been more accurate. I knew I had been very lucky that they had taken me in and cared for me over the past eight years. They had been very kind and treated me like one of their children. I didn’t like to think about what my life would have been like if they hadn’t been willing to take me in.

  Aunt Ella sat in the living room reading a book when I arrived home. “Hey, Pierce,” she said as I walked past. “How was the run?”
/>   I stopped for a moment. “It was good,” I said. “Want a big hug?” I was still drenched in sweat and smelled like a locker room. Aunt Ella always teased me about how bad I smelled when I finished my runs.

  She smiled and wrinkled her nose. “I’ll pass, thanks.”

  I laughed and then ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I hopped in the shower and washed off the sweat and stink of my run. Aunt Ella was dead on about the odor.

  My mind kept going back to my encounter with Spencer and Tamara. I couldn’t stop thinking about what they had said. Over and over my mind replayed the scene, looking for any hint of inconsistency or mistake that would tell me it was a lie.

  But if there were any, I couldn’t spot them. That meant I needed to find out more about what they had told me. Which meant meeting them at the restaurant.

  Apparently, I was going after all.

  I walked into the restaurant just before noon the next day and saw Spencer and Tamara already seated at a table. I bypassed the hostess and made my way to where they sat.

  They both looked up as I approached. Spencer reached out a hand to Tamara and she reluctantly slapped a twenty dollar bill into it.

  “You win,” she said.

  “Of course I do,” said Spencer. “I knew his curiosity was stronger than his fear. That’s one of the reasons I like him so much.”

  “What’s going on?” I asked. I pulled up a chair beside Tamara and sat down. They were both still wearing long-sleeved, black shirts and vests covered in pockets. It must be some kind of uniform.

  “Just enjoying some easy money,” said Spencer. He grinned and stuffed the twenty dollar bill into a vest pocket.

  “Well, that’s one bet I’m glad I lost,” said Tamara. “I was really hoping you would come.”

  “Well, don’t get your hopes up too high,” I said. “I’m still not sure the two of you aren’t raving lunatics. But there is definitely something strange going on and I want to hear more before I make any kind of decision.”

  “Very true,” said Spencer. He leaned toward me and in a loud whisper said, “The little monsters living in my brain tell me the same thing!”

  Tamara punched Spencer in the arm – hard. “Spencer, don’t be a jerk. This is difficult enough without you pulling that crap.”

  At that point, the waitress came and took our order. I ordered my favorite – Chicken Pad Thai, Tamara ordered Massaman, and Spencer ordered something I had never even heard of before, telling them to make it extra spicy.

  Just the thought of something extra spicy made my stomach burn with sympathy pains. I had tried one of the spicy dishes before and stopped eating when my mouth caught on fire after only a few bites. My stomach had felt like I had swallowed a live coal. The idea of making any of their dishes extra spicy just sounded masochistic.

  Apparently, that's how Spencer's brain monsters liked it.

  After the waitress left, Tamara turned to me. “Please, ignore Spencer. He clearly lacks a social filter. His jokes are always in bad taste.”

  Spencer rolled his eyes. “And Tamara lacks a sense of humor. She’s as straight-laced as they come.”

  Tamara ignored Spencer’s jibe. “So, Pierce, what more do you want to know?”

  I thought about it for a few minutes. Part of me wanted more proof that they weren’t completely crazy, but if what they said was true, there were details I needed to know.

  “I want to know what happened the day my family died,” I said.

  Spencer and Tamara looked at each other. “You sure you don’t want to know about the weapons and other amazing technology we have?” Spencer asked.

  That did sound awesome but paled in comparison to finding out the truth about my family. "No, I want to know what happened that night," I said. "You told me you were there, and in the video, I said that I wanted to be a Seam Warden because I didn't want anyone to go through what I did. I've been thinking a lot about this since yesterday, and what happened to my family doesn’t sound like a car accident to me. I want to know what happened.”

  Tamara let out a sigh. “You’re right of course. You always were able to make intuitive leaps and connections. You’re too smart for your own good sometimes.” She took a sip of water from her glass and set it down. “This isn’t how I would have chosen to tell you about that night,” she said. “But you do have a right to know.

  “Since you don’t have the context of how the Seams work, a lot of this won't make sense, but I’ll do my best.

  “Eight years ago on April 11th, we got a heads up that there was a breach somewhere in California. The Seams are places where the barriers between the worlds are weakest. From time to time, the Seams will open and create a hole somewhere in our world. We call those holes breaches. They are connections between our world and one of the forgotten worlds. Through these breaches, creatures from the connected world can come here and we can go there. We have the technological capabilities to know when they happen and can sometimes even predict where they will appear.

  “On this night, we didn’t have the luxury of advanced notice. We detected the breach after it occurred. Spencer and I were sent there to monitor the breach and prevent anything from going in or out while we worked to close it. Our travel technology back then was...”

  “Unreliable?” Spencer suggested.

  “Sure. Let’s go with unreliable,” said Tamara.

  The restaurant door opened and a man and woman walked in. The man was tall with dark, spiky hair and two full-sleeve tattoos. His face was pinched and scrunched up as if the light hurt his eyes in the darkened restaurant. He scanned the entire restaurant, his eyes darting back and forth searching for something.

  The woman was hot in that fake, "I-want-to-be-an-actress" way that was all too common in California. Her face was flawlessly shaped, but her skin didn’t look natural and screamed plastic surgery. She had platinum blond hair, a dark tan, and the kind of figure only money could buy.

  “Aw, crap,” Spencer said.

  Tamara looked up at the couple and scowled. “Are you kidding me?” she said. “In broad daylight, even?”

  “What’s going on?” I asked. “I can see the guy’s a tool, but what’s the big deal?”

  “The ‘tool’ isn’t really a human,” said Spencer. He’s a Stoki from one of the forgotten worlds. There are a couple of colonies here on earth. We have a pact with the Stoki that allows them to stay if they abide by certain rules. One of those rules is for them to not associate with human females.”

  “And why is that?” I asked.

  “Because they have a hard time not eating them,” Tamara said.

  That was disturbing.

  I watched as the hostess seated the man and woman at a table on the opposite side of the room. “How can you even tell?” I asked. “He looks like a human. A bit like a reject from a bad Fast and the Furious sequel, but that’s half the guys in this city.”

  “Oh, we can tell,” said Spencer. “First off, look at the eyes. See how he squints even though the light is dim in here? Stoki have sensitive eyes. They prefer darkness. You don’t often see one out during the day like this. Second, they have the ability to change their appearance, but only within certain limitations. Basically, they can mold their soft tissue, but not their bones. So, when they try to look human, you can spot them by the oblong shape of their head. He's grown his hair out to hide it, but once you know what to look for it's pretty obvious."

  Now that Spencer pointed it out, the man’s head was strangely shaped. “And he’s going to eat her?” I asked.

  “Eventually,” said Tamara. “They like to woo their victims first.”

  That seemed weird and pointless. “Why bother if he just wants to eat her?”

  “Taste,” said Spencer. “As horrible as it sounds, women in the process of being – as Tamara called it, 'wooed' – produce certain hormones that the Stoki find quite irresistible. So they woo them, and when the date is over, the feeding begins.”

  "Our modern day
stories of vampires are based on half-remembered experiences with these predators," said Tamara. "And by the way, there's nothing sexy about these things when you see what they really look like."

  Spencer stood up. "Sorry, Pierce, but duty calls. We can't let this continue. Otherwise, that girl will be dinner tonight."

  Now my curiosity was piqued. “Let me come with you,” I said.

  “No way,” said Tamara. “It isn’t safe. Stokis are extremely dangerous.”

  “Hold on a minute,” said Spencer. “This might be just what Pierce needs to wrap his head around what we’ve been telling him. I say we let him tag along.” He paused for a moment and studied me with a sharp look. “But at a distance, ok? Tamara’s right about these creatures being dangerous.”

  “Sounds good to me,” I said. If it turned out they weren’t nuts, this could be quite enlightening.

  Tamara glared at Spencer. “Thanks, partner.” The way she emphasized the word “partner” made it clear she was less than pleased with his partnering skills at the moment.

  Spencer chuckled. “You should hang back a bit, Pierce. You never know how these guys are going to react when caught.”

  He and Tamara crossed the restaurant to where the Stoki and his soon-to-be-meal sat. They were holding hands and gazing deeply into each other’s eyes.

  “Hey, Stoki. Are you aware that you are violating article Two, Section Three of the Inclusion Accords?” asked Spencer.

  “Stoki?” said the woman. “You said your name was Alfonzo.”

  The Stoki – Alfonzo apparently – let out a heavy sigh and turned to face Spencer. “Excuse me?” he said. “I have no idea what you are talking about.” He turned his attention back to his date.

  “Article Two, Section Three specifically forbids any Stoki from interacting with human women in one-on-one situations,” said Tamara.

  “I honestly have no idea—” the Stoki began. He was cut short by Spencer grabbing the Stoki by the back of the head and smashing his face down on the table. Water glasses and silverware flew off and clattered to the floor drawing the attention of the entire restaurant.