Beneath the Fallen City by Jamie A. Waters (chapter books to read to 5 year olds .TXT) 📖

Kayla stared at the mapping images on the screen and impatiently tapped the keys in front of her. She cycled through the diagrams so she could start rendering them in three dimensions.

Carl walked into the tech room and sat down next to her. “Kayla, we need to talk.”

“If it’s about that OmniLab crap, I’m not interested.”

“Master Tal’Vayr didn’t handle the situation well. I tried to explain it to him, but things are different in the towers. He’s not used to being questioned.”

Kayla entered some additional commands into the computer. She felt him watching her and tried to ignore him. “I know what happened just now came as a shock. It shocked me too. But there’s no denying you’re the child in that picture.”

She glanced at him briefly. “It doesn’t matter. This is who I am now.”

“It does matter. Yes, you’re still Kayla, but you’re more than that. You’re a Rath’Varein.”

She made a face. They could give her any name they wanted. It wouldn’t change anything. “That name means absolutely nothing to me.”

“Dammit, Kayla. This is so difficult because you didn’t grow up in the towers.” Carl took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “You should know this. Dmitri Rath’Varein was one of the founders of OmniLab. He enlisted the help of Marsin Tal’Vayr and some others to build the towers.”

Kayla turned her chair to look at him. “Are you trying to tell me you think I’m related to the guy who built those ugly-ass towers?”

“Yes, but it’s more than that. OmniLab didn’t just build the towers. They built a lot of other things too. They knew our world was headed for trouble, and they wanted to save certain parts of it. Dmitri Rath’Varein was trying to save something he considered more precious than humanity.”

Kayla tapped her fingers on the desk in annoyance. “What the hell are you talking about, Carl?”

Master Tal’Vayr stepped into the room. “I think I should explain.”

Kayla scowled at him. He was the last person she wanted to see right now.

Master Tal’Vayr walked over to her, and she scrambled to her feet, preparing for a quick exit. He paused and clasped his hands in front of him, looking harmless, but she knew the effects of his zappy fingers now. “I want to apologize to you, Kayla. Trader Carl has tried to explain the way things work here on the surface. It’s much different than what I expected. I would imagine you’re as unfamiliar with our ways as I am about your life here. Do you have any memory of living with us?”

“Look, Master Tal’Vayr, or whatever the hell your name is,” Kayla began, eyeing the distance to the door. When he didn’t make any sudden movements, she relaxed. “I don’t know anything about you, and I don’t want to know anything about you. As far as I’m concerned, you can go back to your big towers and leave me the hell alone. The only reason I’m even in this trader camp right now is because I didn’t have a choice. Ramiro, another one of you Omnis, decided the planet would be a little more pleasant if I didn’t exist.”

Master Tal’Vayr frowned. “Please, call me Alec. You are a member of the Inner Circle and it’s not fitting for you to call me by my title.”

Kayla snorted and sat back down in the chair. What kind of guy insisted on people calling him Master anyway? She dismissed him with a wave of her hand. “Fine, Alec. Go away. I’m busy. I don’t want to listen to you anymore.”

Alec looked at Carl questioningly, and he motioned for him to keep talking to her. Kayla narrowed her eyes at Carl. Traitor.

“Ah, I suppose you don’t remember, but I knew you when you were young. I was several years older than you. You were extremely talented, even then. You had the ability to locate items people had lost or hidden. That’s why the High Council agreed to let you travel to the ruins. A lot of our people objected, though, because of your age.”

Kayla pretended to ignore him and continued studying the images. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Carl nod at Alec again, encouraging him to continue. She was tempted to kick him in the shins.

“I used to have a small, glass globe you were obsessed with. You would sneak it out of my quarters whenever you got a chance. You always found it, it didn’t matter where I hid it. It had little flecks of green and…”

“Gold,” Kayla whispered in surprise and looked up from the monitor. He now had her full attention. “I used to have dreams about a glass ball that flashed green and gold when it moved.”

Alec nodded. “That would be it. I still have it. I would have given it to you when we were children, but you seemed to enjoy finding it almost as much as you enjoyed playing with it.”

Kayla shook her head. The whole thing was too far-fetched to believe. “This doesn’t mean anything.”

“No? When I first entered, Trader Carl was trying to explain to you a bit of our history. A bit of your history. It was our ancestors who built the towers to protect those of us with certain distinctive traits. Specifically, those of us with unique bloodlines.”

She’d never heard that before. “Huh? I thought everyone paid their way in.”

Alec hesitated and glanced at Carl before explaining. “Some did, yes. We needed the funding, of course. But before entrance to the towers was opened to the highest bidders, certain people were targeted. OmniLab was originally a company that operated as a medical research facility, dedicated to compiling information on the millions of people populating the planet. Based on the information OmniLab obtained, we were able to determine some people carried certain markers in their DNA which set them apart from others.”

“What sort of markers?”

“Your senses are different from other people. You have a unique ancestry. I’m sure you’ve noticed you’re able to hear and see things other people are unable to sense. I would imagine with your unique skill set, you’ve been quite successful in discovering artifacts.”

“I’ve had some luck,” she admitted grudgingly.

“I’m sure that’s an understatement.” He gave her a knowing smile. “But regardless, there are several of us who share these same DNA markers. You would have trained to use your innate talents and develop others if you had grown up in the towers. As it is, there’s a great deal of raw potential within you that’s waiting to be unlocked.”

Okay, this was too bizarre, and she needed to shut him down. “Are you always this creepy?”

Carl smothered a grin and pretended to be fascinated by the wall. Alec returned her look. “Are you always this difficult?”

She shrugged, turned back to the computer, and entered in a few keystrokes to download the data to her commlink. “So I’ve been told.” Standing up, she offered them both a smile. “Well, it was interesting meeting you, but it’s time for me to head out. Carl, thanks for everything, and I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

Surprised, Carl stood. “Where are you going?”

She winked at him. “My contract is null and void. I’m a free agent again.”

“Dammit, Kayla, don’t do this. What about Veridian?”

Understanding hit her like a punch in the stomach. “Damn you and your stupid contracts. He’s not released, is he?”

“No, Master Tal’Vayr only released your contract, not his.”

Master Tal’Vayr listened to their exchange and offered, “If that’s an issue, I have a proposition.”

Kayla’s lips formed a thin line. A proposition was how she got into this mess to begin with. “Fine, I’ll bite. What is it?”

“I want you to come back with me to the towers. In exchange, I’ll release Veridian from his contract, if that’s what he wishes.”