Free Aetherial Annihilation by John Corwin Page B

mess."
    The gateway opened slowly as it had in Bangkok, but eventually we were able to cross through into a nearly identical way station, complete with stables. During peak business, they usually brimmed with animals of all sorts, from exotic elephants and giraffes, to more conventional beasts of burden like horses. Aside from a lonely donkey and a dejected looking lad named Oliver, the place was empty.
    "G'day, guvnah!" Oliver managed a cheery smile, despite his obvious gloominess.
    "Slow day, eh?" Shelton ruffled the boy's unruly mop of hair.
    "It's bloody awful." He leaned against a wooden fence and kicked a small pile of hay then suddenly brightened. "I take it you're here to set things straight with the magic outage?"
    I nodded. "We're on it."
    "We'll have things up and running in no time," Shelton assured him.
    The last time I'd seen the boy, he'd revealed that he had a connection to Underborn, the most notorious assassin in the Overworld. Despite our rough history, including a fake contract on my father, and several uneven dealings, Underborn had come through during the last phases of the war against Daelissa.
    "Heard anything from Underborn?" I asked.
    "He's got his contacts on high alert for information about the meteors." Oliver picked up a piece of hay and idly tossed it. "Otherwise, I don't know what he's up to."
    "Well, if he wants to help, we're headed to the Ranch." The Templar headquarters were located on a horse ranch in Decatur.
    "I'll tell him if I see him." His mood dampened once again. "I really miss all the animals and people that come through here."
    "I'll be you miss shoveling the poop too." Shelton grinned.
    Oliver stuck out his tongue. "Not so much."
    I looked out at the parking lot where a lone white Lamborghini with zebra stripes sat. "I think we need to have someone pick us up."
    "We'll have to walk topside so I can get a phone signal," Elyssa said. "Someone from the Ranch can come and get us."
    "We keep a few cars here for emergencies," Oliver said. He motioned us to follow him to the parking lot. He went to the wall and pressed a section with a small red mark on it. The stone rumbled aside to reveal two white sedans. "I'm certain this qualifies. The keys are on the seat."
    "Thanks!" Shelton gave the boy a couple of silver bills—tinsel, the Overworld currency.
    Oliver tucked them away. "Mighty kind of you, sir."
    "Don't spend it all in one place." Shelton and Bella hopped in the back seat.
    Elyssa took the driver's seat and I climbed into the other side. She twisted the key in the ignition and the engine turned over. "Hmm, ordinary gas engine."
    "Probably not a good idea to use aether powered vehicles right now," Shelton said.
    "That pretty much covers most of the Templar fleet." She put the car into drive and pulled out. Once we reached the Phipps Plaza parking deck at the top of the long winding ramp, Elyssa texted her father.
    "He's at the Ranch," she said. "I let him know we're coming."
    When we pulled onto the long gravel drive to the Ranch, my mood lifted. It was nice to be back in familiar environs. I wondered if the pasture where we'd fought Daelissa's first Brightling army showed any signs of recovery. We'd used sogger grenades to turn it into a bog and slow the enemy advance. That had been one of many bloody battles we'd waged against the insane Brightling before temporarily relocating the Templar headquarters to Queens Gate.
    We drove into the large barn across from the house and down a wide ramp into an underground garage. Large metal boxes called sliders that used illusion spells to resemble nom helicopters sat in rows to the right, while black SUVs and sedans lined the parking spaces to the left.
    A note next to the levitator shaft explained that it was out of order for the time being, so we had to take several flights of stairs to enter the underground complex.
    "Man, I'm getting too much exercise," Shelton complained as we finally entered the level with conference rooms.
    Bella