Code of the Outcast: The Kyrennei Series, #4

Code of the Outcast

Book 4 of The Kyrennei Series

Arie Farnam

The story up until now…

Two years ago a new super virus was reported in the Pacific Northwest, a mysterious plague that became known as Idaho Ebola. But it was a lie.

The Meikan people, who have quietly passed down their Pagan secrets for a thousand years, know it isn’t a disease. Rather it’s the genetic resurgence of their extinct allies, the legendary Kyrennei, who are like—and yet unlike—humans. And yet it is a death sentence. The Addin Association, the clandestine force that controls the political and economic elites in today’s world, will stop at nothing to exterminate their ancient enemies.

The Addin maintains supremacy in politics, corporate boardrooms and social cliques by usurping the wills and desires of others. But the Kyrennei cannot be controlled and that’s why they have to be eliminated.

For now, most of the Kyrennei are ordinary young people and children, born into the human world without any knowledge of the secret dormant within them. They would have died without ever knowing why—except that one of them escaped.

Aranka Miko was only sixteen when she managed to elude Addin torturers and take up with the outlaws of J. Company. For over a year she has brought unprecedented hope to Meikans and Kyrennei alike because not only did she escape, she also possesses an unforeseen power of protection—the ability to sense who wields Addin mind-control.

Meikans have accepted the tyranny of the Addin for generations under a treaty that allowed them to exist in exchange for silence and passivity. But now, more and more of them are lifting their heads and scenting freedom. While living in hiding, Aranka Miko has rallied the resistance by teaming up with the infamous freedom fighter Jace McCoy to raid Addin laboratories and rescue imprisoned Kyrennei.

Still, the International Meikan Council is afraid to break their treaty with the Addin, mandating that any Meikan who speaks out against the Addin or uses violence to defend the Kyrennei be shunned. As Aranka Miko heads to the Council to ask for active Meikan support, many lives hang in the balance.

Chapter 1: Maya

I wasn’t sure what exactly I saw. Kai was hiding something under a ventilation grate behind the Arts and Humanities building. There was a pipe… or maybe a gun barrel, glinting silver in the dim light.

The idea that someone could be hiding a gun was ludicrous. I mean Michigan Tech was voted the safest campus in three states or the third safest in the United States or something like that. It’s plopped down in the kind of little town that people are always idealizing. Well, white people at least. With all the school shootings in the news, like every other week, the thought did flit across my consciousness.

But Kai Linden? I mean, sure he was a loner, but he had gentle eyes. He never looked at you mean, the way a lot of guys did, as if the only reason the administration was trying to get girls to come here was so that they would have something to screw. Even so, I might have told someone that I’d had the fleeting impression of a gun, except that he saw me.

I was walking toward my dorm on the far east side of campus, coming back from a late class, one of the not-so-techie classes that always got scheduled at odd hours, Readings in Dramatic Literature or something like that. That was why I was out there after dark with nothing between me and the north wind, except a parking lot, the week before Christmas break.

I should have been meeting Grace in one of the audio booths in Rozsa to finish up our term project, but she was flat on her back with a nasty bug and probably going to go home early. Grace was my closest friend at Tech, but I still had to admit that it might be a good thing she wasn’t around, because she didn’t really get it. Not really. Grace could remember all the rules of audio mixing but that was as far as it went. She was much stronger on the computer science side, a true Techie with the artistic sense of a bulldozer.

So, I was thinking that it was just as well that I would be able to put the finishing touches on the project in the morning without her around and feeling like some bum kind of a friend for thinking it. Then I came up to the corner and saw Kai.

He had the ventilator grate pried up and he was tucking the long object inside. Maybe I let out a little gasp or just stopped so fast that my feet made a noise on the asphalt path. He whipped around and for a split second his dark eyes weren’t gentle at all. They were completely wild, the way a tiger might look if you cornered it and poked it with a stick… fear and rage and something I couldn’t even imagine. I’d seen black guys who looked like that when I spent a summer down in Chicago. They scared me.

But then Kai really saw me and his shoulders relaxed and his eyes went gentle again. He lowered the grate and stood up.

Hey, Maya, he said, smiling his shy, lopsided smile. He wasn’t bad looking, with his floppy, jet-black hair and lean body, but he was shorter than most of the guys.

Hey, yourself, I said, still feeling a little uneasy. What’d you do, get some work study on the maintenance crew?

He laughed, a breathy, quiet chuckle. He was all loose and relaxed now. No, just fixing up something for the Christmas program. Some of the geek bands are doing an outdoor show. Don’t yak about it. It’s supposed to be a surprise.

I couldn’t imagine what he might be planning, but his gentle, relaxed manner made me realize that my idea about him hiding a gun was some serious paranoia. I dismissed it as a trick of the light glinting off the bars of the grate.

Besides that, Kai was one of the few like me, not in any of the established groups or Greek societies at Tech. I thought he was all white for a long time, but then I saw his dad at the beginning of our sophomore year. He was this little guy and completely Asian, not Chinese exactly, but something like that. His mom was so white it almost hurt your eyes to look at her.

So, I was sort of preprogrammed to like Kai. Even though he couldn’t have looked more different from me, he somehow made me feel like I belonged. I knew what it was like to be stuck between two worlds after all. Not only was I adopted and my parents were about as blindingly blond as Kai’s mom, but my mom had always emphasized that I am biracial, as if that mattered. No one cares if you’re biracial if you look black and the black kids don’t care what you look like if you don’t know how to act or talk, which I mostly didn’t.

Whatever, I agreed. I tossed my hair over one shoulder, trying to project confidence. Is your band in on it? Our first year, Kai had been all about trying to start a band. They played something they called cyber music, but he was good on an electric guitar.

Nah, his lips curled into a grimace as he looked away from me.

Oops. I remembered that his band had broken up.

Even though he didn’t seem to like the way I had poked at his disappointment, he turned with me as I started back toward the walkway that separated the Arts and Humanities building from Rozsa. I didn’t mind. Kai wasn’t some mega-popular guy, but he was nice to look at.

And it wasn’t like I had lots of choices. There were a few black guys at Tech and they were either spoken for or not particularly desirable. There was no way I was going to mess with them anyway. I was slightly scared of big guys. I was barely five feet tall after all. I had sort of dated once, this blond guy named James, but it didn’t end well and I couldn’t get up my courage to try again.

You’re working on the film production this year, aren’t you? Kai asked, as we fell into step together.

I guess, I said. That fast and he’d turned the tables on me, whether he knew it or not. Brian Ernst has kind of taken over the sound design and there isn’t much left for me to do.

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, but his ironic half-smile and his tone were still relaxed. I know how that goes.

Maybe he did at that. It probably isn’t any easier to play second guitar with a tone-deaf alpha dog than it is to try to do your job on a sound crew when the frats make all the decisions based on what they wish it sounded like. Maybe Kai and I had even more in common than I thought.

We came around two dumpsters that partially blocked the walkway and I noticed a group of guys headed our way from the other side. I recognized the first two as Chem Sci majors I knew in passing. Then I saw that James was with them too.

He was talking loud to the guy next to him and tossing a football up in the air to catch it again. He didn’t look toward us. They had Teel, one of the few black guys, with them too.

Kai’s shoulders stiffened and he slowed his pace beside me. He probably had issues with those guys. I glanced at him. He was looking down and acting like he hadn’t noticed them. I didn’t want to look right at James either, not after what had happened, so I followed Kai’s gaze to the newly painted curb beside the building.

Hey, Mutt, say ‘howdy’ to your dad for me, will ya? James sneered at Kai as we passed by them, but he didn’t make any sign that I was even there.

Kai jerked his shoulders but didn’t look at James. It was clear from the tone that James was mocking Kai in some way, but I was amazed when I looked back at him after a second and his face was screwed up like he was really hurt. His eyes were squeezed shut and his jaw was set so hard I heard his teeth creak.

You okay? I asked when the guys had passed on behind us.

His face had already smoothed out. It had just been a second when he looked like that.

Yeah, see ya around, Maya, he said and headed toward the huge eastern parking lot. I called something back to him and pulled my coat tighter around my neck. Upper Michigan is cold, even for someone raised in the northern Midwest.

I didn’t realize there was anything crucial about that night. I got to the dorm and brought a sandwich back to my room. Several of the girls were sitting out in the hallway, laughing and throwing fries at each other.

How’s Grace? I asked Linda, who was a good enough friend that she would have checked.

Her dad came to get her all the way from Chicago, Linda grinned and tossed her brunette curls. She’ll be fine. Lucky dog.

I did a fake doggy-growl at her and went in to put down my stuff. I came back out into the hallway to eat. I like being around people. I feel sort of lost when I’m alone with the random thoughts in my head.

By this time Linda was gone and the others who I didn’t know as well were discussing the break and the banquet on Thursday. It was a new thing at Tech, a holiday banquet to replace some of the older traditions that had focused on Christmas alone.

It’s absurd, one of the girls, Janice, was saying when I sat down. Just because of a few people who want to be all unique and different, we have to change the name of everything. Next it will be illegal to even say Christmas.

Janice’s boyfriend was sitting with her and he moved to make room for me. I couldn’t help but notice that he moved a little further than absolutely necessary. What was his problem? I knew I hadn’t forgotten to put on deodorant or anything like that. When I looked up from my food though, I saw that he was studiously not looking at me and two of the girls from across the hall were looking at me out of the corners of their eyes. The conversation had definitely quieted down.

What? I asked.

Oh, it’s nothing, Mel said from right across from me, her toes nearly touching mine on the hall carpet.

Yeah, you’re not like that, thank God, Kristie said.

Like what? I couldn’t help asking, although I had a sinking feeling that I knew just what they meant.

All overly politically correct, Mel said.

I celebrate Christmas, I said. I don’t care what you call it.

Don’t you celebrate that Kwanzaa thing or something? Janice asked.

I gave her a flat look. I wanted to drop my jaw in an exaggerated gape and embarrass her for being such an idiot, but that isn’t the kind of thing you can get away with when you’re practically the only black female at Tech. The fact was that my ultra politically correct parents had gone through the motions of celebrating Kwanzaa for much of my childhood, in an attempt to get me in touch with African American culture. But I had only rarely run into black people who were into it.

Oh, yeah, she’s a Christian, Kristie said with a strained laugh, probably a better Christian than the rest of us put together. She actually goes to church every now and then here in Houghton.

I made a fake smile and jabbed playfully at Kristie, pretending to be embarrassed by her compliment. Inside I didn’t know what I was feeling. Maybe just bored and tired.

Just then two girls came into the hallway wearing identical white t-shirts, white rubber gloves and medical masks. We all looked up and Mel and Kristie giggled. The rest of us couldn’t help it and started snickering too.

Hey, cut it out, one of the girls said. This is the stupidest work study job I’ve ever had. We’ve got to find everyone on the dorm list by tonight. She had a ponytail sticking almost straight up on top of her head, which actually made her look even sillier with her mask.

I’m pretty sure Grace doesn’t have Ebola, Kristie said, through her snorting laughter.

Well, anyone who hasn’t been jabbed is going to get it tomorrow morning, the other girl said more seriously. You have to show your ID to get out of the dorm and they’ll check you against the list. So, who hasn’t given a sample?

I remembered hearing about this. The university was trying to test everyone for that new Idaho Ebola thing right in the middle of the last week before break. They said they had one case or something and didn’t want students spreading it all over the country. But there wasn’t enough medical staff, so they were sending biology students with a crash course in blood sampling into all the dorms.

I have! Mel said.

Me too, Janice said.

Janice’s boyfriend just shrugged.

You’d better get back to your dorm and do it there, the bossier of the two girls told him. You’ll get trouble if you’re not checked off of their list.

Oh, all right, he grumbled but he didn’t move.

Then she looked at me. I shook my head. I’d been busy until late the day before, so I hadn’t run into them.

Do you have your ID? the girl with the ponytail asked, while the other one demanded, Where’s your room?

I got up and showed them into my room, taking my ID out of my purse and handing it over. They scanned their list and found my name. Ponytail asked me to sit down and she swiped the inside of my arm with disinfectant while the other got the needle ready.

They were quick. It took them no more than a few seconds. Their list already had printed sticky labels on it, so they just peeled my name off of their paper and stuck it on the sample bottle.

That’s pretty efficient. I nodded at the list.

Not efficient enough, ponytail said, wrinkling up her nose with a chagrined smile that was mostly hidden under her mask. But we’re almost done with this dorm. What a hassle. I doubt anyone’s sick here.

Could be, the bossy one said. Ebola comes from Africa after all.

The first one turned to stare at her with wide-eyed shock and it took me a full second to register what she meant. Of course, they were both white. That wasn’t something I took the trouble to think about unless someone shoved it in my face like that. Most people in the upper Midwest are white, so even if you aren’t, you don’t actually notice all the time. Even then I didn’t react. I never did. I just froze up and felt exhausted.

It’s from Idaho, the first girl said, sounding horrified.

Well, at least you’re not a whiner, the other one said to me and turned toward the door. Thanks and have a nice night.

When they were gone, I lay down on my bed to study for an exam from one of my professors who obviously didn’t have the Christmas spirit. I was too tired to focus, so I ended up lying on my back and sorting through things in my head.

Twice in one short evening people in my dorm had seen my skin color before they saw me. And Mom wondered why I felt out of place. Why couldn’t she ever see how people were? I probably should have gone to a school back east, someplace with more diversity. But Dad loved Tech and I’d let him talk me into it. I usually went along with things rather than argue and Dad was persistent.

I stared at my hand on my textbook. My skin had always been clean and as smooth as dark caramel, even in high school when other girls got pimples. I don’t dislike my appearance. It’s not that I’m insecure that way. I just wish I could fit in better.

My hair is what some black women call good hair. It flows instead of bunching. I can brush it out and style it pretty much the way white girls do. I always thought my face was friendly, roundish with pleasing features, and I try to be cheerful and get along with as many people as I can.

And growing up the way I did, I didn’t think about being black or biracial until someone made a comment. As a rule, they didn’t even realize they were doing it, and it was a sharp little reminder that I didn’t entirely belong here. I didn’t belong when I went to a summer program for black youth down in Chicago either.

That was the story of my life. Never fitting in. There was nothing I wanted more than to be solidly part of one culture in a safe place full of warm smiles with nothing weird behind them.

The next two days are drab in my memory. I went to classes. I took the exam. I didn’t think much about Kai, except that the image of his face popped up in my head a few times for no apparent reason. We shared only one class that semester and he wasn’t in class. In fact, I didn’t see him around at all.

Two days. That was all. I had completely forgotten about whatever Kai had been doing at the ventilation grate.

It was Thursday in mid-morning. I was sitting in Prof. Ibis’s class with Kristie. Acoustic Dynamics. It could get pretty dry but Ibis was handy with real world examples.

The door creaked. I glanced over and it was open a crack. This was one of the smaller classrooms in Fisher Hall with the door near the front, and I was sitting just a few rows back. Prof. Ibis was still talking, writing something on the board to demonstrate one particular application of the theory.

The crack widened. I saw the shadow of someone outside, pressed against the door but trying to be quiet.

What an idiot! There was no way they could get in without Ibis noticing and he couldn’t abide interruptions.

There was a rush and the crash of the door against the cabinet behind it. A figure hurtled into the small lecture hall. By the shape I thought it was a guy though he wasn’t that big. He was dressed all in dark clothing and had a black mask with eyeholes over his head.

Students screamed and a few of them dove for the floor. I froze. Ibis had fast reflexes. He grabbed the long pointer from the board and plowed toward the guy, aiming for the side of the gun.

The gun!

Silver, sleek and evil. A long thin barrel and massive sights on top of what would otherwise have been a pistol.

Blood roared in my ears. My hands gripped the long desk in front of me. I never could move in a crisis.

The guy threw up an arm, blocking Ibis and tossing the pointer off. He pivoted away in a smooth motion.

Back! Back! the voice was muffled by the hood. Freeze! Don’t move! I don’t want to hurt you.

Just put it down, Ibis’s voice was amazingly calm. He did take a step back, his hands raised in front of him. Come on now. Just put the gun down. No one has to get hurt.

But the guy with the gun swung the barrel around to point at Ibis instead of the class.

Kristie was among the students on the floor, I noticed. She was sobbing. Some part of me wondered why I wasn’t. I couldn’t move a muscle.

Everybody put your hands up where I can see them. Now! the muffled voice was ragged, on the edge of anger. Then like a whip crack, Drop that phone!

He moved the gun barrel from Ibis back to the rest of the class, while he edged along the wall. He was getting closer to me. The kids on the floor tried to scuttle away from him with frantic scraping sounds and terrified whimpers.

Keep your hands up! he barked. No one move! I don’t want to but I...

He reached my desk. I was breathing in short gasps. Something inside of me screamed.

Run! Run! Run!

But I couldn’t move. I heard a hiccuping, wheezy sobbing. Was I making that sound?

He was leaning over me now, pointing the barrel of the gun beyond me.

Maya, get up!

I looked up into his eyes then. I knew him. On some level, I think I knew as soon as he burst in. I knew where the gun had come from. This was all my fault.

Come on. Get up, he repeated. I can’t explain now but you have to. Your life depends on it.

Yeah, you psycho freak. If I don’t do what you say, I’ll be the first one you shoot.

Stupid! Stupid! How could I have been so stupid to think he was a nice guy?

But I couldn’t move.

I’ll go with you, buddy, Ibis said, his voice shaking but still low and mostly calm. Leave Maya alone. Please. Think about this. You don’t want this kind of trouble. Just put the gun down and it can all be okay again.

One of the jocks at the back of the room moved, shifting a foot and one of his hands was under his desk. The masked gunner snapped toward him and fired.

Pain stabbed into my ear with the explosion so close. I only saw several mouths open in a shriek. I couldn’t hear it. Markus, a small guy with glasses two rows in front of the jock slammed back in his seat.

Oh, shit! Oh, shit! Markus yelled grabbing at his shoulder. It was covered with blood. Screams pierced the numbness of my ears.

Fuck! Keep your hands up, you fucking morons! The voice behind the mask cracked with desperation, but he kept the gun trained on the cluster of guys at the back of the room and an eye on Ibis as well.

Well, apparently he did know how to use the gun. That was a shock.

My hands were shaking on my desk. All I could think was that he wasn’t pointing the gun at me. He was so close to me that I could smell the musty hat he had turned into a mask. His hand rested on my shoulder.

Maya, please. Get up, he said. His voice was gentle when he said that. Please.

Ibis was saying something again but my ears were ringing from the shot. I couldn’t pay attention.

More people will get hurt if you don’t move fast, the gunman said. Please. Don’t make this worse than it is. Get up.

I felt my legs move. I stood slowly. My knees were shaking as much as my hands.

He gave a deep sigh. Walk to the door. I’ll follow. Just walk to the door.

I started walking. Everyone stared at me. Ibis looked like he might freak out. He was a good professor, always pulling out some obscure joke. I couldn’t understand why I was the one who had to die here. Would Ibis protect me if I lunged toward him? But then he would be the one to die. He didn’t deserve that.

What had I ever done to Kai? Why would he pick me?

I reached the door. The masked figure was backing toward me, the gun trained on the group of guys at the back of the room. Their eyes looked more angry than terrified, glaring from under their eyebrows. Had they figured out who he was by now?

Open the door, Maya, he said. My hand moved as if my brain wasn’t controlling it. Surely, I couldn’t be so calm in a situation like this. And surely, I wouldn’t do what some maniac said. I guess you don’t really know what a coward you are until it comes right down to it.

I pulled the door open and he backed out of it, still aiming the gun.

His eyes latched on me, black, hollow and fierce. Maya, please trust me.

Yeah right. You jerk!

I couldn’t speak.

Do I have to hold a gun on you or will you run with me? Please. His voice was so soft that I doubt the others could really hear. He stood in the doorway, where he could still see the rest of the class.

There were running footsteps in the main part of the building. Someone must have heard that one shot.

Poor Markus! How bad was it?

Kai grabbed my arm and hauled me out of the doorway, letting the door slam behind us. He ran and I ran with him. He wasn’t pointing the gun at me but he still had it.

I tried to slow him down, tried to twist away. If I was going to die anyway, why not here?

Maya, damn it all! Run! he pulled me around a corner. There was an emergency exit at the end of the short hallway.

He slammed me against the wall. I couldn’t believe how strong he was. For a guy who was only a few inches taller than me he had muscles like steel cords.

Listen. If you stay, they’ll kill you, he hissed. His masked face pressed right up to my nose. I know that sounds insane but it’s the honest truth. What have you got to lose?

There were shouts behind us. Ibis’s voice booming out in warning and others in the hallway. They were right behind us.

Kai grabbed my shoulder again and hurled me toward a fire exit door. We hit