Free Mystics #1: The Seventh Sense by Kim Richardson Page A

grease on her sleeves and hair.
    “But what is it? And why do I have to whisper about it?”
    Tristan and Simon looked at each other again, and then finally Tristan
said. “It’s a top secret device that only a few Sevenths and mystics have ever laid eyes on. It’s used to travel
through and back from the Nexus.”
    “The Nexus,” repeated Zoey. She remembered that both her foster
mother’s demon and the agents had mentioned it.
    “Is that like where the monst —mystics live,
or something?” She caught herself.
    Tristan took a sip of his water. “The Nexus is where the mystics
came from thousands of years ago. It’s another dimension—a world filled with millions
of mystics.”
    A slice of pepperoni fell from Simon’s mouth. “I think I’m going to
be sick.”
    The pieces to Zoey’s puzzle were all coming together now. She was
getting the hang of it.     “So why is it
so special…this interloper?” she said and lowered her voice on the word interloper . “Why is it kept secret?”
    “Because it’s one of the few devices
that actually work,” said Tristan, looking serious.
    “Guys, I think I’m lactose intolerant,” interjected Simon. “It’s the
cheese—I think maybe that’s why I’m afraid of cows.”
    Tristan ignored him. “The mystics built the devices thousands of
years ago and used them to cross over to Earth, to colonize our world—”
    “—Like an alien invasion,” said Simon as he took another bite of his
pizza.
    “But then the hostiles massacred hundreds of thousands of humans,”
continued Tristan. “They wanted to annihilate the entire human race—”
    “—Until there was nothing left of us but dust,” added Simon, still
chewing.
    “The Mutes didn’t understand what was happening to them. They
couldn’t see their threat, so they
couldn’t fight back. That’s when the Sevenths got together and destroyed most
of the interlopers, to keep the hostiles from crossing over to Earth again. And
that’s when the Agencies and the treaty were created.”
    Simon licked the grease from his fingers. “We patrol the dimension’s
borders. We keep tabs on the hostiles. Can I have a sip of your drink?” he
helped himself to Tristan’s drink.
    Zoey watched Aria pouring water into empty glasses.
    “So why do they stay here? Why don’t they go back to their world?
Don’t they like it there?”
    “Because to most of them this is their world,” said Tristan.
    “They were born here on Earth and have been here for generations.
Their home is here, just like you and me, and they have the right to stay.
Besides, from what I’ve heard, the Nexus isn’t all that great. The hostiles use
the weaker mystics as slaves, and there are ongoing wars between races. It’s
pretty bad.”
    “Guys, I think I’m going to become a vegan,” said Simon as he belched.
“Hey, I feel better now!”
    “So they prefer to stay here because they don’t want to go back.” Zoey
remembered that the Skin and Duyen demons had been
determined to stay here on Earth. They were prepared to do whatever it took to
avoid going back to the Nexus.
    “I get it, it makes sense.”
    She looked back at Aria and imagined her as a toddler with her siblings
as her own mother ran after them and picked them up with her four arms.
    Simon wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “It’s all there in
the treaty. The mystics must respect
our world and us, ‘cause if they don’t—well, that’s when the agency steps in
and things get ugly.”
    Zoey looked at Tristan. “You said they didn’t destroy all the
interlopers, so where are they now?”
    Tristan stared at her. “All I know is that there are only a few left.
They are hidden in major cities around the world. They’re all heavily guarded—it’s
not like you can just walk in and take one. You’d be killed. You’d be insane to
try.”
    “But someone did,” said Zoey, her curiosity growing by the minute.
    She felt Stuart’s creepy blue eyes on her but