Manipulating Mikey (First Wave Book 8) by Mikayla Lane

on his
back, enjoying the feel of his body beneath her hand.
    “It’s OK, Mikey. He is one of the
Hyperboreans I was telling you about. There are a few of them here, and one of
Grai’s adopted children, Mikal, is Indrid’s biological son. They have the
ability to shift into the wind,” Lauren explained as she moved from behind him
to look up in his face as she took his hand in her own.
    Mikey used his other hand to rub
his face, trying to understand what was going on. Since the moment he awakened,
he felt as if he’d gone down the rabbit hole.
    “I don’t know what to believe
anymore,” he whispered as he rubbed her hand, hoping she was real.
    Lauren sighed in sympathy and
stepped closer to him, putting her other hand on his cheek.
    “It’s a lot to take in. I’m sorry.
I should have realized that before agreeing to bring you here. I thought it
would bring you peace. I didn’t know it would affect your gift,” Lauren said,
wishing she’d thought it through better.
    Mikey hated to see her sad and upset—especially
over him, and he wanted to make her feel better. He pulled her close, draped an
arm over her shoulder, and turned them back to the wooly mammoths and the city
laid out around them.
    “I’m a tough guy; I can take a
little surprise. This is an amazing place. Why don’t you show me around and
explain it to me,” Mikey said, truly curious about the ancient city.
    “Are you sure?” Lauren asked with
concern, wondering if it was too much for him.
    Mikey chuckled and pointed to the
mammoths.
    “I think if you don’t start
explaining then I’m going to run over there and pinch a mammoth to make sure
I’m not dreaming,” he teased.
    Lauren giggled at the image that
invoked in her mind.
    “That probably wouldn’t be a good
thing. Let’s head towards the center of the town, and I’ll fill you in on the
way,” Lauren offered.
    *****
    Grai paced the conference room as
they replayed the breakup of Koda’s craft over and over again trying to see the
direction the second piece may have gone.
    Blade stared at the footage on the wall
before he closed his eyes and replayed Mikey’s version in his mind. Opening his
eyes, he walked over to the wall and pointed to a specific area.
    “Can we get a closer look at this
area?” he asked Traze and Cristali.
    Cristali pulled up the footage from
that quadrant of the sky that evening and began to play the footage right
before the aerial fight began.
    “Change the angle a bit,” Blade
ordered as he sat on the floor in front of the wall, ignoring the curious
looks.
    Blade looked up at the wall and watched
the scene unfold before him for several long minutes.
    “There!” he yelled as he stood.
“Replay that last 20 seconds.”
    “What do you see?” Grai asked as he
stepped closer to the wall.
    Blade grinned at Grai.
    “The kid was right. Watch,” Blade
said as he turned back to the footage on the wall.
    “Here!” Blade said as he pointed at
a small blur on the end of the footage.
    “What is that?” David asked as he
also stepped closer to the wall.
    They watched in rapt attention as
Cristali replayed the last 20 seconds of the footage as requested.
    “It looks like a blur of light. Are
you sure that was the other part of the pod?” David asked.
    Blade nodded his head and grinned.
    “Yeah, the kid saw the damn thing
clear as day. It’s the only reason I would have ever noticed the blur in the
image; it’s where the other piece of the pod went in Mikey’s memory,” Blade
confirmed.
    “Where the hell did it go?” Grai
whispered as he stared at the blur that was the rest of the pod he hoped
contained Koda.
    “We’re calculating,” Cristali
muttered as her fingers flew across the command center. “There’s a 50-mile
stretch depending on if he hit anything that would slow the pod or change its
trajectory.”
    Grai cursed loudly as he pounded
his fists on the table.
    “Just give me a place to start!” he
growled.
    Traze shook his head