Time of Treason

  An evil from beyond…and a traitor in their midst…

  time of

  treason

  THE TYON COLLECTIVE BOOK TWO

  Susan M. MacDonald

  WWW.BREAKWATERBOOKS.COM

  LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

  MacDonald, Susan M., 1962-, author

  Time of treason / Susan M. MacDonald.

  (The Tyon Collective ; book 2)

  ISBN 978-1-55081-471-2 (pbk.)

  I. Title.

  PS8625.D7725T54 2014 jC813'.6 C2014-900564-4

  © 2014 COPYRIGHT SUSAN M. MACDONALD

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon

  may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means–graphic, electronic

  or mechanical–without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Any request for photocopying, recording, taping or storing in an information

  retrieval system of any part of this book shall be directed in writing to Access

  Copyright, One Yonge Street, Suite 800, Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1E5.

  We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts,

  which last year invested $157 million to bring the arts to Canadians

  throughout the country. We acknowledge the Government of

  Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Government

  of Newfoundland and Labrador through the Department of Tourism,

  Culture and Recreation for our publishing activities.

  PRINTED IN CANADA

  Breakwater Books is committed to choosing papers and

  materials for our books that help to protect our environment.

  To this end, this book is printed on a recycled paper that is

  certified by the Forest Stewardship Council®.

  For Christopher, Caileigh and Jamieson.

  This book is dedicated to my mum, Margot.

  Contents

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  31

  32

  33

  34

  35

  36

  37

  38

  39

  40

  41

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  1

  Riley Cohen stood with her back to the door and waited for the axe to fall. Her heart was pounding hard enough to rattle her teeth. Her legs felt like jelly and a sick weight settled in the pit of her stomach. Any minute, the apartment would be crawling with Tyon operatives. Don’t panic, she repeated silently, over and over. Keep still. Don’t make a sound. And don’t touch your orb. She clenched both her fists to keep from gripping the powerful crystal in her pocket but it was nearly impossible. Every fibre of her being was programed to answer the orb’s Tyon call. Which she was not going to do.

  What on Earth had she done to deserve this?

  The answer, of course, was nothing. It was her special abilities that created this disaster. The Tyons had inserted a gene in her DNA that granted her the skill to read minds and heal physical injuries just by concentrating her thoughts, which made her a potential weapon for the Tyon forces as well as their enemies. The same genetic aberration had made Alec Anderson, the boy shivering with fear and exhaustion next to her, more powerful than any other human alive. One of his powers, to open and move through rifts in time, had helped them escape the most formidable evil force in the galaxy, and brought them back here to where it all began. But that ability was a double-edged sword. Moving in time was something so rare and so dangerous that it wasn’t permitted. The Tyon scans had apparently noted the time rift he’d created to escape and had tracked the shift, and consequently her, Alec and their Guardian, Darius, to this apartment. Which meant the Tyons were baying for Alec’s blood. And it would be up to Darius to bring them to safety.

  “Get us out of here,” she whispered through clenched teeth. “We’re toast if they find us.”

  Darius Finn leaned over. “Shut up. I’m working on it.” He grunted in pain. He was holding tightly to Alec’s kicking older brother; one arm around his chest like a steel band, pinning Peter’s arms to his sides, and the other tightly clamped over Peter’s mouth. “They’ll search this room any minute. Use the window.”

  “Are you crazy? We’re on the second story. There’s no fire escape,” Riley hissed back. But it was no use. Darius was right. Any second now Darius’s former commander, Logan, and his goons were going to barrel through the one-inch plywood door she was leaning against, slap them all in the alien equivalent of handcuffs and march them off.

  “Open it. Climb out.” Darius gave the order but it was unnecessary. Already Alec was climbing onto his desk and reaching for the screen.

  Riley groaned. That might be fine for Mr. Super-NinjaTyon-Operative Finn or Alec-the-mega-athlete but she was an ordinary seventeen year old girl who was not flinging herself anywhere without a safety net and tranquilizers. The window over the desk was wide enough for any of them to climb through. That wouldn’t be the problem. The broken legs when they landed would.

  “Alec is dead if they get him,” Darius mouthed the words. “Move.”

  Suddenly, the sound of footsteps on the other side of the door broke the silence. Riley shot Darius an agonized glance. It was too late. They were here. Any second they’d find Alec’s parents, both unconscious from a combination of the fight that had broken out when the three of them winked into existence from the future and Darius’s necessary modification of their memories. The instant Logan woke them up… Heart in her mouth, she zipped over to the desk and clambered onto the chair. Alec had pulled the screen off with practiced ease. He gingerly put the screen on the floor and gripped the upper sill.

  “No sign of an Operative, sir,” a man’s accent-less voice cut through the silence from the apartment hallway.

  Riley flapped her hands at Alec to hurry him.

  Alec leaned back to whisper, “Roll when you land,” before he ducked through and disappeared from sight. Riley nipped into his vacated spot and gripped the sides of the window. Without looking down, she shimmied her legs through the opening. They dangled over nothingness. Don’t think about the distance, she ordered herself.

  She heard the kitchen door close sharply. That left this bedroom, Alec’s parents’ room and a closet left to search. Galvanized, she pushed herself off the ledge before she could change her mind. The actual falling took a lot less time than she thought it would. She hit the hard ground and rolled into some bushes, more out of accident than intention. Alec grabbed her arm before the shock of landing had even penetrated her consciousness. He hauled her to her feet.

  “Run,” he urged unnecessarily.

  Her ankle hurt. Not enough to prevent weight bearing, but enough to slow her to a hobble. She glanced behind and upwards, just in time to see Peter, his legs flailing and an expression of pure horror in his eyes, fall with Darius’s arms still wrapped around him in a vice.

  She didn’t see them land but heard the impact. Focusing every ounce of her attention on keeping upright and ignoring the pain, she tried to keep up with Alec. They ran down the weed-choked lawn, skirted a couple of bikes lying abandoned on the sidewalk, and between two parked c
ars to cross the street. With every step, she expected to hear “that’s them” and feel the cruel hold of Tyon power wrap around her, dropping her to the ground like a sack of bricks.

  Riley followed Alec up a slight incline and into the shadow of another rundown apartment building. Between that and a midrise tenement block, a small grove of spindly trees created a temporary hide-a-way. Alec ducked under the nearest branches, finding the worn dirt path easily in the early evening gloom, and disappeared. Riley plunged in behind him. After only ten steps they exited to a cleared gravel space that had once been a children’s play area. No one would let kids play there now; the obscene graffiti alone would put most mothers off.

  “Keep your hands off your orb,” she warned breathlessly as Alec’s free hand came to rest on the pocket that bulged with his small crystal ball. He sat in the only unbroken swing and wrapped his free hand around the chain.

  “Yeah, I know.” Alec sighed deeply as the toes of his shoes scuffed the dirt. “Logan will find me if I touch it.”

  Riley leaned up against the broken frame of the teetertotter and waited for her lungs to catch up. She eased off her tender right ankle. “You okay?”

  For a moment he didn’t answer. There was a small cut on his left cheek and a swelling over his right eye. And those were just the injuries she could see; the hidden ones were probably a lot more painful and would take much longer to heal, if he had experienced the same mind-gutting terror in the rip that she had. Add to that the strain of teleporting them back in time and it was a wonder he was still standing. Sometimes it was hard to remember that he was only fifteen. “I feel like crap, actually.”

  “You look like crap, actually,” she replied.

  He gave a short laugh. “Thanks a bunch, Cohen.”

  “Any time, Anderson,” she answered as she nervously scanned the trees for movement. Where was Darius? They’d been right behind them. Had Logan looked out the window? Was he forcing Darius to tell him where they were, right this minute? She shook the thought from her brain and forced herself to be rational. Logan didn’t know about them. He hadn’t had them in his clutches, hadn’t chased them across the country, and hadn’t ordered Alec’s death, because all that was in the future now. And by coming back, they’d changed everything. All Logan knew was that somebody had shifted time. And besides, she hadn’t panicked through the last few weeks. She didn’t panic when she was hunted, when she was captured, or even when she’d been sucked into the dimensional rip. She was not going to start now.

  “This is a totally bad idea, bringing Peter with us,” Alec muttered as he stared at his shoes. “He’s the most stubborn person you’ve ever met. He’ll slow us down, refuse to believe Darius, and call attention to us. Just you watch.”

  “We don’t have any choice,” Riley sighed. “You heard Darius, same as me. Peter has the same genetic aberration we do. The Tyons will come after him, same as they’re after us. Your parents’ only chance for safety is if Peter is removed.”

  “I heard him,” Alec replied. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

  There was a rustle of branches and suddenly Darius burst into the clearing, dragging Peter along with his arm forced up behind his back. Peter looked as if he’d gotten off with the worst of the fall; both knees were filthy and his forehead was scraped. If the situation hadn’t been so serious, Peter’s outraged expression would have been funny.

  “You two okay?” Darius panted.

  Alec jumped off his swing. Two steps had him towering next to Riley. “Was that him?”

  Riley noted the break in his voice but kept her eyes on Darius.

  Darius gave Peter a yank to stop him struggling. “Scout party. Didn’t hear Logan’s voice and I doubt he’s with them, but I can’t be certain without using my orb.”

  Peter tried to jerk his arm from Darius’s grip but couldn’t budge him an inch.

  “Keep quiet,” Darius warned. “Kick me again and I’ll break your arm.”

  “He means it,” Alec said.

  Peter continued to struggle. His eyes locked on his brother’s face and shot daggers. Clearly Darius’s mental hold on Peter’s vocal cords was better than his hold on Peter’s legs.

  “Where do we go?” Riley asked with a worried look back at the pathway through the trees. “They can track us anywhere we hide.”

  Darius nodded. “And the scouts aren’t the only problem. I’ve had two requests for information from Anna I haven’t responded to. I’m guessing you’re both feeling the call too, right? When she catches up with us, there’ll be some tough explaining to do. Why I’m not answering. Why I’ve got the three of you with me. Why two of you have orbs.

  Remember, we’re now a month before Anna met you and the fact you know about us and have learned some basic orb skills is a huge complication. Add in Logan zeroing in on the time-shift coordinates and you can see the disaster brewing. I need to put as much distance as possible between us and the transport site. And fast.”

  “We should steal a car,” Riley suggested.

  Darius shook his head. “We can’t touch our orbs to unlock anything and only a fool would leave a car unlocked in this neighbourhood. We’ll have to hike on foot.”

  “I’ve got a friend near here,” Alec offered. “We could hide in the basement of their convenience store. Logan would never think to look for us there.”

  “Good thought, Alec, but no,” Darius replied. “I’m not endangering any more civilians than I have to. Logan will track me by my orb signature once he realizes I’ve been here. I think we should leave town.”

  “There’s a bus every fifteen minutes,” Alec pointed out. “It goes right downtown. We could be in the middle of massive crowds in less than an hour.”

  “That’ll work. Lead the way.” Darius yanked Peter’s arm back until he blanched with pain. “You will go with us. You will not fight me. Are we clear?”

  Riley shivered as Peter’s eyes widened and his limbs slackened as Darius’s control surged over him. It was amazing what he could do even without an orb. Alec turned and ran lightly away from the pathway, ducking into the dimness of the ring of trees on the far side of the playground without giving his brother another look. Riley followed. They burst out of the shade a moment later and circled another apartment building. There weren’t too many people, considering the time of day and the number of occupants in this part of Scarborough, and the few that passed barely gave the four of them a second glance. Alec pointed to the bus stop, half a block down and across the street. With a quick nod of his head, Darius headed directly towards the glass enclosure where several other passengers waited.

  “Hope someone has some money,” Riley muttered.

  “We can just—” Alec began before he cut himself off. “Guess we can’t.”

  “No orb, no power, no free bus rides,” Riley ruefully agreed.

  They jogged across the street at the first break in traffic. Riley noticed Alec’s long look at his former home in the distance and the sudden agonized expression that crossed his face. “We fixed your dad’s arm and made a serious dent in his depression. Your mom will wake up in an hour or so. Darius made certain they won’t remember us at all. I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

  Alec averted his eyes and said nothing. With a burst of speed, he tore ahead to the bus stop. Riley followed more slowly. She didn’t need an orb to feel his sentiments—now that the genetic traits bred into her DNA by the Tyons had been fully activated she could feel strong emotions just being close to him. Swallowing the sudden lump in her throat, she crossed the short distance to the bus stop.

  There were three other passengers waiting. A woman in a hijab stood to one side and eyed their approach warily. A young couple engaged in a vigorous game of tonsil hockey leaned up against the graffitied walls of the bus shelter. Riley avoided Alec’s eye as she entered the glass enclosure and hoped she wasn’t blushing.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Peter said loudly. He tried pulling his arm free of Darius’s grip again.
Darius’s hold over Peter was fading too quickly.

  “And I told you, there was no point arguing. I am in charge. You will obey me. Like it or not.” Riley’s skin prickled with Darius’s words.

  “No, I won’t, you crazy lunatic,” Peter replied, but his voice wasn’t nearly as emphatic as it had been. The kissing couple seemed oblivious but the third passenger eased away from them with a dark sideways glance.

  “Do you want Mom and Dad to get killed?” Alec turned to face his brother, his voice low and insistent. “Do you? Because every minute we’re around them, we put them in danger.”

  “Alec,” Riley warned quietly, giving the necking couple a pointed look.

  “I think they’re occupied.” Alec faced Peter again. “Well, do you?”

  “Piss off,” Peter said and gave Alec the finger with his free hand.

  Alec took a step closer and his eyes narrowed dangerously. “Boys,” Darius interrupted, “please stop it now.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do,” Alec said out of the side of his mouth. He took a step backwards and Riley watched his shoulders drop as Darius’s control affected him.

  “Yeah, don’t tell us what to do,” Peter mimicked.

  “When you two are finished comparing sizes, we have a bus to catch.” Riley pointed. All of them turned towards the street. A lumbering city bus trundled towards them, its directional signal flashing. At the same instant, the orb inside her pocket buzzed again. The vibration was a lot stronger than before. She jumped. “Jeez, can’t we turn these off?”

  “Don’t answer that,” Darius warned.

  “I wasn’t going to,” Riley said, pulling her hand away from her pocket.

  “No one touch their orb,” Darius ordered.

  Alec exchanged a tight glance with Riley.

  “What is it?” Peter looked at all three of them in turn. “Why aren’t you answering your phone?”

  “It gives our location away,” Darius said quietly, “and as I told you a few minutes ago, there are people out there that we definitely don’t want knowing where we are.”

  The bus slowed as it approached. The woman in the hijab quickly moved out of the shelter towards the curb. The kissing couple didn’t stir.