Coming Together (Tèarmann Chronicles book 6): A Christian Urban Fantasy Read online

  Coming Together

  TR Moore Ede

  Tèarmann Chronicles

  Copyright © 2021 TR Moore Ede

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Edited by Rebecca Reid

  Cover design by Eugene Chugunov (Wickard)

  ISBN: (paperback) 978-1-7777606-0-1

  ISBN: (ebook) 978-1-7777606-1-8

  trmebooks.com

  For all my readers. Thank you for your support!

  Contents

  Character Reminders

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Thank you

  About the Author

  More by TR Moore Ede

  Acknowledgments

  Character Reminders

  A brief reminder of the characters you’ve already met and their known abilities up until this point:

  Malissa Crop/Cane

  Species: mermaid

  Powers: control water, second tail, mermaid form

  Gang after her: the Slayers

  Powers are: natural

  Jessica Toby

  Species: human

  Powers: mentally talk to Jessie, an aid in aiming, shoot stuns from wrists

  Gang after her: the UIC

  Power are: from an experiment

  Jessie Silver/Toby

  Species: human

  Powers: mentally talk to Jessica, see though another’s eyes, read minds

  Gang after her: the UIC

  Powers are: from an experiment

  Irene Flare

  Species: dragon

  Powers: breathe fire, danger sense, increased sense of smell, increased strength, dragon form

  Gang after her: the Slayers

  Powers are: natural

  Jason Flare

  Species: dragon

  Powers: breathe fire, danger sense, increased sense of smell, increased strength, dragon form

  Gang after him: the Slayers

  Powers are: natural

  Victoria Shack

  Species: human

  Powers: turn invisible, flight

  Gang after her: the Slayers

  Powers are: passed down through her father’s side via an experiment

  Zack Cazard

  Species: human

  Powers: increased speed

  Gang after him: the UIC and the Slayers

  Power are: natural from the age of ten

  Princess Eve

  Species: alien (technically human)

  Powers: flight, hand blasts

  Gang after her: the UIC

  Powers are: passed down from her parents via an experiment

  Chapter 1

  Getting separated from Terry in the UIC’s vents Sunday morning was never part of the plan. Was it the UIC’s fault? Surprisingly, no, it was mine. The UIC—Universal Intelligence Corporation —was not the nicest group of people. There’s a reason the agency I worked for often put their agents up against them. One of their crimes was experimenting on people in hopes they would develop powers.

  In fact, my twin sister, Jessie, and I were victims of that when we were babies, and it worked. Did many people know about it? No. Our boss, Mr. Mason, thought it would be best to keep it under wraps as we were having some issues with double agents.

  So back to why Jessie and I left Terry, the leader on this mission, and headed in a different direction in the building of an organization that was out to get us. Jessie—who could read minds—found out there was a prisoner about to undergo some sort of testing. We used our ability to communicate mentally to hatch a plan to stop it, and Terry was not made aware because he most likely would have forbidden us because it was not part of our mission. Which he would be correct, and I knew we would be in a lot of trouble when we returned to the Agency. He also was not aware that we had powers in the first place.

  Jessie struggled to keep up with me, not accustomed to crawling through cramped spaces. Terry’s going to kill us, she reminded me.

  Yeah, and Mom, and Dad, and Mr. Mason, and others. I know. You were the one who pointed it out!

  She looked so scared!

  Exactly. Which is why we are doing something about it! I mentally snapped.

  Jessie said nothing.

  A few minutes later, I stopped and looked through the vent. I let out a long breath—but wasn’t really surprised—to see it was a lab.

  A woman dragged a girl, a girl whose skin, and even her hair, were blue!

  Jessie placed her hand on my leg to ensure I didn’t go anywhere. By her concentrated look and closed eyes, I knew she was now viewing things through the lens of someone in the room, another of her powers. It’s just the two of them … the girl’s hands are glowing blue! … She can shoot stuff from her hands. Why is she all blue?

  I’ll keep that in mind, and I don’t know. I flinched when a gunshot sounded, and I heard the girl cry out. I forced the vent open and leapt out, Jessie right behind me. As soon as I was on my feet, I shot a stun from my wrist at the woman, one of my abilities.

  Jessie immediately ran over to the girl. “Are you all right?”

  The girl was seated on the examination table, clutching her shoulder, shaking.

  Jessie’s eyes grew wide when we both noticed the bit of blood leaking through her hand. “Jessica…” Her blood is blue!

  “Sta-stay away!” the girl yelled. Her frantic movements to create space between us only ended with her falling off the table.

  Jessie hesitated for a moment, then she ran over.

  Before Jessie could get close, the girl shot up into the air, hit the ceiling, then collapsed on the ground. She pushed herself up, tears streaming down her cheeks and a hand pressed to her head.

  Jessie glanced at me before kneeling next to the girl. “Look, we’re here to help, okay? Can you trust us? We’ll get you out.”

  “Jess, what are the chances that she can understand us?” My eyes were fixed on the girl’s shoulder. Blue blood. The alien crashed nearby; this could be her.

  The girl slowly looked up. “Kinda high,” she whispered.

  I tensed up before forcing my shoulders to relax a little, caught off guard that she could speak English. I glanced at the door. “Let’s start with getting you out of here.” I did a quick once over of the room. Light scorch marks from her blast had hit cupboards and equipment. “You trashed this place up good. Nice. Probably take a little bit until Dr. Justin can continue his experiments. Or at least tests.”

  The girl hugged herself.

  Jessie helped her up and wrapped her shoulder. “Come on, we need to get out of here.”

  The girl grabbed her bag from the lab fl
oor, then we headed for the vents.

  “Terry, change of plans. We will wait for you outside the base, usual spot,” I whispered into my earpiece.

  “Jessie, Jessica, where are you? What’s going on?” Terry asked.

  I swallowed and said nothing else.

  As we continued our descent, I could hear the girl’s heavy breathing. I assumed the tight space of the vents plus being stuck between Jessie and I made her nervous.

  Every so often Jessie would whisper little encouragements, but the girl’s only response was a shaky, “Mm hm.”

  Oh my gosh! Jessie suddenly exclaimed.

  What?

  Nothing.

  I frowned. Jessie!

  She hesitated. If I read her mind correctly, she is the alien. But I don't know sure. Her thoughts are all jumbled.

  How can she be something like the alien?

  I don’t know. Either way her blood appeared and… blood, give her the appearance of it. The eyewitnesses said she had blue blood, right?

  I paused. I believe so. I let out a silent breath.

  What do we do? Jessie asked.

  First focus on getting her out of here. UIC is harsh enough without being from a different planet.

  ‘The alien’s’ flying ability was helpful when we made the mad dash across the field and over the fence.

  Jessica! Jessie whimpered when alarms sounded.

  This is expected, you know that!

  We were supposed to be in and out, no trouble, little notice, she thought.

  I glanced over my shoulder. The UICers were out of sight, but I could still hear them. “We need to hide. There is no way they’re going to stop.”

  “Unless we reach town,” Jessie said. She kept a grip on ‘the alien’s’ wrist to ensure she didn’t fall behind.

  I shook my head. “They’ll catch up to us by then.” I turned to ‘the alien.’ “Could you get us into a tree?”

  Her eyes darted around. “Maybe-” is what I believe she whispered. Her tone certainly implied it.

  I grabbed the ‘alien’s’ arm, bringing both she and Jessie to a halt. “No maybe. You can or you can’t?” My gaze slid behind them. By the sounds of it, the goons could come into sight very soon.

  She swallowed, then nodded. She helped Jessie into the tree first, then me. She clutched to the trunk as if it were her life force. A soft blue glow from her hands appeared when UICers ran under the tree. Her grip loosened when they ran out of sight.

  I placed a hand on her arm. “Not yet. They could still be close by,” I whispered.

  Her arms tightened.

  A little bit later, Jessie said, “I think it’s safe.”

  The ‘alien’ nodded. It took a moment before she unwound her arms from the tree, then helped us out.

  As I watched her glide Jessie down, I glanced at the spot where her hands had been. There was a light mark, I assume from when her hands glowed.

  She was back a moment later to help me down.

  “Thank you,” I said with a nod, dusting the twigs off.

  “Thank-thank you for helping me,” she whispered, wringing her hands together. She took a few steps back before flying away.

  “Wait-”

  I covered Jessie’s mouth. “You can’t shout like that.”

  Her eyes stayed fixed on the trees where the ‘alien’ had disappeared to.

  I stared in that direction for a moment, too, before nudging her. “Do you still have it?”

  Jessie jumped a little as if coming out of a trance. “Yeah.” She pulled out a USB stick from her belt, then slid it back in. “Terry’s going to kill us.”

  “So you’ve said many times.” I let out a long breath. “But he was still busy, and I don’t know what he would have done if-”

  “If what?!” Terry snapped, appearing in front of us. His green eyes drilled into us. “There’s a reason I go on missions with you, and it’s not so you can run off!”

  “We were helping someone!” I exclaimed.

  He grabbed our arms and pulled us farther away from the UIC building. Terry didn’t let go or say anything until we were safe in the car. “That was reckless and dangerous!” he said sharply as he started the engine. “What if you got caught? You do remember the UIC is after you!”

  “Which makes no sense when we’re sent on missions there,” Jessie mumbled.

  “I don’t get it either,” Terry said, then sighed. “So, where is the prisoner?”

  “She ran off,” I said.

  “And you’re going to tell me, Jessica, that you couldn’t keep up with said prisoner?”

  I looked away.

  “That’s what I thought,” he muttered. “You at least have your half of the information?”

  “Yes,” Jessie said, pulling the USB stick from her belt. Exhaling a long breath, she tugged out her ponytail. Her brown hair fell just past her shoulders, similar to mine—which made sense since we were identical twins. The main differences between us were that I had more scars and muscle. She slipped her hand into mine and gently squeezed. Do you think the ‘alien’ will be all right?

  I don’t know. I mean, she can fly and shoot those… blast things.

  But she was caught in the first place.

  I gave a slight nod to one side. True.

  Do you think she was an alien or an experiment?

  I glanced over before looking away. Jessie and I were still working on concealing that we were talking mentally. I don’t. I mean they gave us powers but for someone to change color that much … I don’t know. I mean, her blood was blue!

  Jessie looked at her hand. Phew. I was worried for a second that I still had some of her blood on me. I don’t know how I would explain that. I mean, the UIC doesn’t just leave buckets of paint around. Do we turn her in-

  No. I still don’t think Boss likes the idea of people with powers. The last thing he should know about is a possible alien. You saw how he reacted when he heard about the ship.

  Jessie nodded. Okay.

  “You two are oddly quiet,” Terry said, looking at us in the rearview mirror.

  I let out a long breath and said nothing. Terry was a few years older than me and a lot like an older brother. So if he wasn’t happy about something we did or said, he was comfortable enough to make it known, even if it meant coming straight to our house to talk. It didn’t help that he was already protective of me after my first 'accidental’ mission. When he found out that the UIC was after me for reasons other than being an agent, he freaked. It was just a matter of time before he found out Jessie and I had powers.

  He is really mad, Jessie thought.

  You don’t need to read his mind to pick up on that, I said.

  “Jessica!” Terry snapped, jolting me from my thoughts.

  I looked up. “What?”

  “I asked you a question.”

  I cringed. “Sorry. Could you repeat it?”

  He huffed. “Did you get permission?”

  I was quiet for a moment, racking my brain for what sort of question he could have asked.

  He’s thinking about the alien ship the Agency is going to get and if we got permission to check it out, Jessie told me.

  Great, thanks. “Oh, to see the UFO? Yeah. Did they say we could see it soon?”

  “Not yet. They want a scientist to look it over first. He’ll be moving here in a few weeks, so we’ll get it after him.”

  I nodded. “All right.”

  He's going to interrogate you later, Jessie said.

  I rolled my eyes. That's not exactly news. I assumed that. He always does!

  … Do you think there's still UIC at the Agency?

  I silently sighed. Probably.

  Jessie reached into her belt pouch and pulled out the USB. “Just making sure.”

  “As I said before, I wouldn’t let you go back,” Terry said.

  “Yes, we know,” I muttered, resting my head against the back of my seat.

  Terry’s hand tightened on the steering wheel. “I can
tell something happened. I don’t need to bring it up with Boss, do I?”

  I swallowed and hunkered down.

  “What’s with all the secrets? Jessie’s dead, then she’s not, she can’t protect herself, then she’s able to join us. None of this makes sense!”

  “Just trust our parents,” I said, looking out the window.

  “I’ll think about it.”

  Jessie looked at me. He’s going to find out about our powers. We can’t hide it from him forever.

  I know, I know. I inwardly groaned. It’s either he’ll figure it out or the UIC will tell him, and I don’t know which is worse!

  Chapter 2

  As soon as we reached the Agency, we dropped off the USB stick, then were immediately directed to the medic bay.

  “Terry,” Nurse Clare said, hugging him as we entered the room. Her brown hair was done up in a tight bun, and her blue eyes began their search for wounds.

  “Hey, Mom,” Terry said with a small smile.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked, rubbing his cheek.

  “Just the usual,” he said, glancing at us. “We got separated during the mission so it was insisted that we get looked over.”

  “All right, let’s get started with you,” she said. “Girls, please wait outside.”

  I nodded and led Jessie out.

  “What happened?” Nurse Clare asked a few minutes later, after she ushered Terry out so she could look over us girls.

  “I don’t know what you mean?” I muttered.

  “Prisoner? Did you know why she was there?”

  “Is Terry allowed to tell you stuff like that?” Jessie asked.