Fearlings Two (The Fearlings Series Book 2) (10 page)

“Rob wait,” Rick says, “let
Sevol
.” Rick turns to his
Molawner
.
Sevol
fades from vision.

Rob already knows the answer. His wife is gone. He was too late and didn’t save her.

Sevol
returns to stand beside the shadowy image of the smaller
Kynar
. His tone is short but shows compassion. “She has been taken.”

“
Aaaaagh
!” Rob yells out. He cannot control his emotions. “No! No! No! No!” He paces for a couple seconds then stops. “No. No, we can’t let this happen. We can’t.”

Rick doesn’t say anything. He knows that it will not help. He watches as Rob collapses to his knees crying.

Julie cries as she holds her son at the doorway.

“We can’t let this happen,” Rob cries.

“Rob,” Rick says. His tone is soft but also to the point. “We have to go.”

Rob stands and turns to his Fearling
Kynar
. He speaks with desperation in his tone, “Something? There has to be something we can do.
Kynar
there has to be something we can do.”

“James,”
Kynar
says. “Protect James.”

Rob stops. He knows that
Kynar
is right. He wipes the tears from his eyes. He thinks of his son at the cafeteria with Rachel and the others.

“The Fearling is right,” Professor says startling everyone in the room as he enters the house. “We have to get back to James. I have a taxi out front.”

“How did you get a taxi?” Rick asks.

“He was driving by the wreck.”

Rob stops. He turns to Julie and Stewart. “You two stay here.”

Julie understands why Rob speaks his words. There will be no Vaun in the house so there will be no chance of them being attacked.

“As long as you’re not with us you will be safe,” Rob says.

Julie nods yes, as Rob hugs her then bends down to Stewart. “You stay with your mom and protect her,” Rob says. He reaches out and hugs the boy. He stands then turns to the door.

“We will call you when time allows,” Professor says.

Julie holds her son as the three men exit the house. A second later
Kynar
and
Sevol
fade from vision. “We’re safe now,” Julie cries. “We’re safe now.”

“What about James?” Stewart asks. He saw what happened to Ann. He is scared for his friend and the others. “Is he safe?”

CAFETERIA

Thirty minutes later Rob, Rick, and the Professor enter the large room. They see the other
Vauns
instantly stop and turn to them. Rachel and the other
Vauns
notice that Ann is not with them and they know what that means.

“No,” Rachel says. She looks down and sees James staring at her. His eyes tear and she knows that he is aware.

Rob walks to his son and bends down. He hugs his boy tightly as they both cry.

“We were attacked in the car and delayed,” Professor says, “We were too late to help Ann.”

“No!” Rob is not ready to give up. He won’t. He can’t. “No! We have to go get her! If they can come here damn it then we can go there!”

They say nothing. They let Rob cry his thoughts out. They are all searching for a way to travel to the Fearling’s world but they have not found the way yet.

“There has to be a way,” Rob says. He turns to the Professor. “You can find it. You can. With Rachel’s dad’s help you can find it.”

“Yes,” Professor says. He is calm, compassionate. “We do not know how yet but we will find it. We will. We will Rob. I promise you this.”

“Now,” Rob cries. He stops as he slowly gets control of his emotions. He feels his son’s grip tighten. He cannot lose control. He has to be strong for his son. He wipes his eyes and stares around the room. He speaks in a calmer tone. “We have to find her.”

At that second, the outer lights where the ceiling and wall meet shatter. Sparks and glass fly around the edge of the room forcing several nearby
Vauns
to raise their arms to protect their faces. The outer walls have enough darkness for Fearlings and
Molawners
.

Kynar
is the first to appear and instantly the other Fearlings do as well, protectors and those who are there to attack, appear scattered throughout the room. The larger
Molawners
appear last, directly in front of their
Vauns
.

Rachel’s Teelah appears along the wall twenty feet away from her. She sees Rick’s Sevol appear and then Jeff’s Rel.

James stands beside his dad at the end of a table under the protection of the light. He scans the area at all the shadowy beings and is scared. He has never seen so many and he knows that not all of them are good like his Fearlings Hydron and Drawk, who appear along the wall directly in front of him, ready to protect.

No one has moved yet. The humans are frozen with fear and caution while the Fearlings and Molawners are waiting. Outside in the hallways the lights shatter and the emergency lights turn on leaving darkness every thirty feet. Everyone reacts because they know that they are now the ones pinned.

“Dad…?” James cries. He sees his Fearlings Drawk and Hydron step as close to the edge of darkens as they can.

Rob looks to his Fearling Kynar as he speaks.

“Protect,”
Kynar
whispers. “Protect.”

“You protect James!” Rob demands to his Fearling. “Do you hear me Kynar? You protect James!”

The attacking
Molawner
Setah
, who is attached to Jeff, appears at the edge of the darkness. The Molawner reaches out through the lights. His large silky black arms grab a nearby Vaun, tossing the man straight up slamming him into the lights on the ceiling.

Rachel yells as another Vaun slams up into the ceiling and falls landing on the table beside her and Rick.

“Stay close,” Professor yells. He looks around the room as the Molawner Notav reaches through the light and grabs a Vaun and tosses the woman back through the entrance to land in the dark hallway.

The Vaun in the hallway screams as an attacking Fearling grabs her and drags her away from the doors down the hall.

Rachel hears the
Vauns
screams fade. Everyone knows what that means. Rachel sees the attacking Molawner Culav reach out and grab another Vaun, tossing the man straight up into the ceiling shattering more lights.

“Protect,”
Kynar
says. He is stuck in the shadow of the darkness and is unable to reach his Vaun. He repeats his thought to Rob. “Protect.”

Then the Fearlings and Molawners stop. They stare at the Vauns as they huddle in the small area of light that remains at the end of the table near Rob and James.

Rick stands on one side of Rob and James. He stares at the shadowy outlines of the beings in front of him. He stands ready, with anticipation of attack at any second.

Jeff stands beside Nancy. She reaches out and grabs his hand to calm the new Vaun. “Stay close to Rel, he will protect you.”

“I know but you,” Jeff stops. He knows that Nancy is aware that she doesn’t have a protector. “I won’t leave you.”

Professor stands on the other side of Rob and James next to Rachel. Rachel looks to her Molawner Teelah standing in the darkness in front of her.

“He’s here,”
Teelah
says. She points across the room to the darkness along the wall.

Rachel turns to see a large shadowy image of the Molawner that she has never met before. His name is Ocyrul, he walks past a couple Fearlings, and as he nears the light, he doesn’t slow.

The smaller Fearlings
Hydron
and Drawk who protect the young James are ready. All the protecting Fearlings and Molawners are ready. They know what is about to happen.

Ocyrul
raises his arms and the remaining lights on the ceiling shatter darkening the room. Instantly protectors appear next to their Vauns as they are attacked.

Rachel sees the
Molawner
Ocyrul vanish from vision as she watches in horror as the people she knows are being attacked.

There is a Fearling ten feet away from James. He is smaller like Hydron and Drawk. His name is Rykar and he is after the boy.

Rick’s
Sevol
and Jeff’s Rel are very powerful and are able to grab several attacking Fearlings and toss them back into the wall.

The small
Rykar
attacks James from the side, but is prevented by Drawk and Hydron. The two Fearlings grab Rykar rushing him back into the wall.

The
Molawner
Culav
takes advantage of James’ protectors being distracted. He reaches out and grabs the boy then tosses the eight year old backwards to land at the entrance of the hallway.

“James!” Rob yells as he turns towards his son. He doesn’t see Ekabar reaching for him.

Ekabar
grabs Rob and tosses him sideways into the wall. He turns as Kynar attacks him from the side.

Nancy runs to the fallen boy on the floor. “Get up James!” She pulls him to his feet. She looks down the dark empty hall.

The
Molawner
Culav
appears behind her before she turns around. He grabs the smaller human and tosses her sideways into the hall.

Nancy crashes into the lockers then falls to the floor. She gets to her knees and looks across the way to James.

James cries as
Culav
drags Nancy down the hallway until they fade into the darkness.

Rob gets to his feet and sees the Professor run to James in the doorway. He turns around just as the Fearling Ekabar backhands him across the face.

Kynar
grabs
Ekabar
from behind and slams the Fearling into the wall. He charges and strikes Ekabar again and again.

Rachel’s
Teelah
is busy defending off other attacks and cannot help Rob as Notav grabs him from behind.

Rick punches at a shadowy outline of a Fearling attacking another Vaun. His protector Sevol is fending off two attacking Fearlings several few feet away.

Rob is lifted off of his feet and tossed backwards through the air. He flies above his son as the professor kneels down to the boy. Rob lands hard in the hallway and slides across the floor slamming into the lockers.