Free Incident 27 by Scott Kinkade

person, or he may be something
else.”
     
    “I’ll
be careful. Don’t worry; I won’t commit to anything until I get a better
understanding of him.”
     
    Ev
said good-bye to his mother and left the house. It wouldn’t be long before
someone from the Academy came looking for him, and he didn’t want to be found
just yet.
     
    * * *
     
    Maya
knocked on the door of the Bannen home. His mother answered. “Maya! It’s good
to see you again. Have you come looking for Ev?”
     
    “Yes.
Has he been here?”
     
    “He
was here a little while ago, but he left.”
     
    Maya
balled a fist. “Dammit; I’m too late. Do you know where he went?”
     
    “No,
I don’t know where. I just know he was going to meet a man named Arcturus
something.”
     
    Maya tsked angrily. “Arcturus Reich.”
     
    “Yes,
that’s him.” She didn’t seem too concerned about this situation. Maya needed to
change that.
     
    “What
did Ev tell you?”
     
    Anni
stared at her for a moment. “Everything.”
     
    “Listen
to me. Arcturus Reich is a dangerous criminal. He’s already murdered one person
that we know of. He can’t be trusted.”
     
    Anni’s
eyes went wide. “Are you serious?”
     
    “ Dead serious.”
     
    “But,
I…oh no…”
     
    “What
is it?”
     
    She
looked at Maya with eyes full of shock and regret. “I told Ev it might not hurt
to listen to what Arcturus has to say.”
     
    “That
was a huge mistake,” Maya said. “But I’ve committed some huge mistakes of my
own, so I won’t condemn you for it. But we have to find Ev. Didn’t he leave
some clue as to where he went?”
     
    Anni
shook her head. “No. None. He wasn’t here for very long. I’m afraid I don’t
have the slightest idea where he went.”
     
    Maya’s
hopes of finding Ev quickly had just been dashed against the giant rock of
reality. This was the only place she knew of to look for him, and was had been
too late. Now she had no choice but to return to the Academy and—
     
    —wait!
She wasn’t out of leads. Arcturus Reich had been operating in the Tru Republic. Perhaps he was still there somewhere. And if he was there, Ev would be as
well.
    She
thanked Anni Bannen and left immediately.

Chapter
VI
     
     
     
     
    Ev
approached the strange monument that lie a few hundred miles west of Blasdow,
the very place Arcturus had instructed him to go to. This was Stonecroft.
    Built
thousands of years ago, this collection of giant stone slabs standing upright
in a circle had long been a place of mystery for not only the citizens of the Tru Republic, but the entire world. What was its purpose? Who built it? Many scholars
believed it was a site for pagan rituals carried out by long-lost sect of
indigenous peoples, but no one knew for sure. Ev figured the gods at the
Academy probably knew, but so far they had not revealed the answer to him. How
they loved their secrets.
    On
this day, there was a large group of tourists gathered around Stonecroft. They
pointed, they took pictures, and they marveled at the engineering feat before
them.
     
    Ev
wasn’t here for them.
     
    He
walked over to where one dark solitary figure stood a ways from the monument:
Arcturus Reich. “I knew you would come.”
     
    “Have
you just been waiting here all this time?”
     
    “Not
very long,” Arcturus said. “I figured you’d show up without too much delay.”
     
    “Well,
I’m here. I hope you’ll make it worth my while.”
     
    Arcturus
pointed at the circle of stone slabs. “What do you know about that monument?”
     
    “Only
what’s in the history books,” Ev said, uncertain about where this conversation
was going.”
     
    Arcturus
stared at it. “It was built to harness the power of the gods.”
     
    “I
didn’t know that.”
     
    “Zero
Grade is a bit more forthcoming with information than the Academy. Belial
taught me many things I’m sure Bethos wouldn’t want you to know. For instance,
he taught me that every universe has sites just like