The Acolytes of Crane (Theodore Crane, #1)(34)

I had to start somewhere, and I needed to bring in the services of the cerebral Lincoln Royce to do it. The need to deal with the approaching conflict drew nearer.

The ride was tense and quiet, time passed swiftly, and it wasn’t long before we were on the corner of Granada Avenue and Fifth Street, just down from my grandparents’ house. I explained to Winston that I wanted him to drop me off at the corner. I didn’t want to involve him in a messy situation.

He said, ‘Ya know, what you did could have gotten us both in trouble. You put yourself in danger, I am not saying I will not help you out again, but it is going to be difficult to trust you now. You get on, and I will drive on. Best of luck, you sneaky bastard.’

Gulping, I said good-bye and ran up the hill into the cul-de-sac. It was around seven in the evening, and I saw a couple of small bats zinging around the circle.

There were always a couple of bats that flew out to play when the sun went down. I stepped foot on the front deck, my heart pounding.

My stomach was fluttering in and out, as if one of those bats was inside, flapping its wings. When I entered the house, my grandparents were staring, with arms crossed. There was a brief lapse of sound.

‘Theodore Daniel Crane, where have you been?’ Laverne demanded.

‘I went to Taylors Falls—,’ I said, while being cut off.

“What!” my grandpa interrupted, “How the hell did you get up there, and why?”

I explained to them that I wanted to continue the tradition of visiting the cliffs, and that I was willing to take the risks involved.

After I finished speaking, I was near tears. Not because I had lied to them, not because I had sneaked out, but because I had witnessed the hurt on my grandparents’ faces. They had fretted all day, and it showed. Their numerous wrinkles were etched in even further. It was as if one delicate tendril had snapped. They had trusted me unwaveringly, and I could tell, in that momentous one day, it wasn’t ever going to be the same. I felt deeply ashamed. My grandparents loved me too much to show any anger, but they could not hide their profound disappointment.

Marv said, ‘In my days, my dad would’ve spanked me with a wooden rod no thicker than your pinky finger. But Theodore, I forgive you, just remember we love you, and if you need anything, just ask us.’ Firming up his mouth, he turned away.

I felt even worse.

‘I thought of calling the police,’ Laverne said, not looking directly at me, ‘but I figured you were too intelligent for any real trouble, Theodore.’

‘Yes, grandma.’ I hugged her frail body. There was no more that needed to be said.

I was dismissed to my room, and I lay in bed. I glared up at the ceiling, mulling over Zane and King Trazuline.

My room was cool from the air conditioning. Usually I left the door open so the air would circulate, but I had to keep my grandparents from observing me, whilst I used my hologram.

I rose up to close the door, and I changed into my striped pajamas. While I changed, I heard my grandparents talking about me. They said I was distant and irrational. The only thing actually out of reach that I cared about was the Uriel.

I wanted to know more about King Trazuline. I could have waited to find out, but I had an implanted IPU from my benefactors, why wait?

The IPU was incredible. Earth wouldn’t invent such technology for decades—perhaps hundreds of years, in fact. I dwelled upon the thought uneasily. Perhaps Earth should never invent this stuff. I pushed that thought aside, and renewed my vigor. Wide-eyed, I examined it.

I extended my hand outward, and I pulled it back quickly to jet over to my blinds. I wanted to shut them. I was still uncomfortable about the use of the hologram around the possible presence of witnesses.

When I jumped down from my bed, I bounced around in the dark of my room, and I stubbed my toe against the leg of my dresser. I let out a short yelp and scrammed back to my bed. I rubbed my toe until the pain subsided.

I held my hand outward once again, and from my hand appeared the king. It was truly cool miniature hologram of King Trazuline, slowly rotating before my eyes, and audio began to play over my nanocom:

‘King Trazuline is the Multiversal representative for the planet Karshiz. . .’

I remember thinking almost every word that came from Nezatron’s metal mouth was difficult to process. I felt it was just excessively advanced for me at the time. I had an urge to look up the Dacturons, but most of the information was about their society and culture. I wanted to know about the conflict, because the king had explicitly called me for to do battle side by side with him.

I continued my train of thought and Nezatron equally flooded my brain with audio through my nanocom.


“It wasn’t that Zane in his infinite wisdom was betting all his chips on me. He had many chips to gamble, and they were wisely invested throughout the multiverse. We were just a small part in a large plan. I blanked in thought, and fell asleep.”

The morning slipped through my home and eliminated the darkness. On the ceiling, there was a web. A spider was living in the corner of my room, next to my boy-band poster.

I watched the arachnid for about fifteen minutes. The spider didn’t move. I felt like it was watching me. Usually, when I saw insects in my room, I would grab something from my reach and hurl it in the direction of the spider, in hopes of annihilating the poor insect.

I left the spider alone, because it wasn’t harming me. Preoccupied with the incredible revelations of the past twenty-four hours, I thought about Dietons, Omnians, and Dacturons. A new universe that I had never heard of, yet was now to be my future. A future pre-destined by none other than Zane himself. I could have sat and listened to the history of the multiverse for hours as I did the night before.