“I expected there to be a lot more people around,” James said, peering out the window of the car as they made their way down the four-lane street. “Aren’t there over three million people in this city? There should be more traffic than this.”

Will made no comment, but he did glance out the window, noting how few cars there were on the road around them. He thought perhaps that James had a point. Including Minneapolis and Bloomington, there were three million, six hundred thousand people. Yet, on one of the largest roads of the city, he could have counted maybe a dozen cars in the past ten minutes.

Kenta craned his neck to look behind them, a thoughtful frown playing on his face. “Perhaps there is a festival within the city.” When James copied his action, he added, “Or perhaps our presence has something to do with it.”

“We can’t be enough to clear an entire highway,” James said with a short snort. “What do they think, that our powers can reach a mile in either direction?”

Will, who had taken that moment to glance at the driver’s face in the rearview mirror of the car, thought he’d glimpsed the man looking directly at him. But Beckham was facing the road properly now, and he couldn’t be sure that he’d really seen him staring. Still, something didn’t sit right with him.

He spoke quietly and in Japanese. “Kenta. Can you sense any Nexians nearby?”

The driver perked up at the sound of the foreign language but gave no indication that he understood. Kenta, meanwhile, closed his eyes for a few seconds, then shook his head. “None. We are the only ones on the road.”

James glanced over at them, his expression slightly sour. He too spoke in Japanese, but his command of the language still wasn’t good. He spoke slowly and with poor grammar. “I hate it when you speak in Japanese. I’m still not good at it.”

“You’ve had six years to practice,” Will said sternly. “The fact that you are not yet fluent is your own fault.”

“You think we might be targeted by an ambush?” Kenta asked, ignoring James’ complaints on the language. “You think that’s the reason there are so few cars on the road.”

Will nodded, his next words sending a chill down their spines. “It’s what I would do. Strike hard and fast, without putting too many civilians in harm’s way.”

“That doesn’t sound anything like the Soul Nexus,” James said. “They wouldn’t care about harming innocents.”

Kenta scowled at that comment, not because it was rude, but because it was true. “They had no honor, that is true. All except Hitori-san.”

James rolled his eyes, his usual response whenever Kenta tried to defend the honor or image of one of the past Soul Nexus members. Not that his former Nexus had ever affected his loyalty, Will thought. The Japanese man had moved to Alaska without complaint when he’d formed the Thunder Nexus. The only time he allowed himself to be sentimental about the first Nexus he joined was in moments like these when either Togashi or Hitori was brought up.

“I can’t sense anyone either,” Will finally said, letting out a long sigh. “That could mean that there’s no ambush. But it doesn’t make me feel better. What other reason could they have for making this road so empty?”

“Is that language common in Alaska?” Beckham, their driver asked. It seemed he could no longer keep up the facade of disinterest. “Nobody around here speaks that language.”

“Why is this road so empty?” Will asked, pointedly ignoring the man’s question. “Even in Fairbanks, which is a much smaller town, the roads are much busier than this.”

Beckham frowned at him in the rear-view mirror. The expression wasn’t one of concern, dislike, or even nervousness. He seemed genuinely confused by Will’s question. “I thought that would be clear, sir. Our city isn’t used to the presence of an Alpha such as yourself. And now there are four. Only natural that folks are nervous.”

Four? Will wasn’t sure he’d heard the man right. Frowning, he cast a quick glance at Kenta. His friend also wore a similar frown, having clearly caught the strange answer. He spoke quietly, switching smoothly back to Japanese. “Four? How can there be four Alphas? The only representative the Council sent is you.”

Will nodded. “Something’s wrong. He might just be mistaken because he doesn’t know much about the Nexuses. But do you remember the way that Togashi became an Alpha?”

There was a short pause, and understanding dawned in Kenta’s eyes. Even before Hitori had died, Togashi had displayed frightening strength and endurance, qualities normally only notable in an Alpha. It was only later that Will learned that, technically, anyone in the Soul Nexus could grow to the level of an Alpha. Which was precisely what Togai had done, shortly before killing Hitori and wreaking havoc.

“You think there’s four of these new Soul Nexians, and that they’re all strong enough to be Alphas?” James asked, jumping back into the conversation. “Is that what the human meant by ‘now there are four’?”

“Three,” Corrected Kenta. “Will makes four. That is if these new Soul Nexians are as strong as Togai was.”

Will let out another sigh, this one much more troubled. If he’d been nervous about the prospect of meeting three unknown, possibly hostile Soul Nexus members, his anxiety was only guaranteed to skyrocket if the three of them turned out to be Alphas. Ironically, if that were the case, Will was the perfect person to be leading this exploratory mission. He was the only Nexian, Alpha or otherwise, who was able to kill a Soul Nexus Alpha. It had been his wife that had delivered the fatal blow, but Will alone knew their weakness.

“You never told the Council how you managed to kill Togai,” Kenta said, seeming to read his mind on the matter. “But I know you discovered his weakness.”

“I did,” Will said slowly. He tapped a finger on his thigh, half out of frustration, half nervous energy. “It’s not information that is particularly useful if I have to face three of them.”

“Perhaps they’re not hostile,” James offered, though his face was clouded by doubt. He, like Will, was not looking forward to the chance of combat with three Alphas. “But we can’t back down from this meeting.”

That was the truth of it, and the problem that weighed so heavily on Willl’s mind. He had to meet with these three strangers if only to ascertain the threat level they may pose for the Nexus Council. With the Libera Terra on one side and the stranger from another world on the other, the Nexuses were facing enough threats. Finally, he made up his mind.

“We will meet with them.” He inclined his head in James’ direction. “James is right. We can’t afford to not meet them in person. If they are indeed hostile, we may not be able to kill them, but we can escape. The three of us are the strongest fighters from the Thunder Nexus, probably from all the Nexians.”

He reached into the pocket of his coat and retrieved a small silver bracelet. Seeing this action, the other two mimicked his action. These bracelets, made of an extremely conductive metal, coated a battery inside. The battery had an insanely high capacity, allowing Thunder Nexians to store power for later consumption. It was a tool that only they three had access to, in case they were required to enter a particularly dangerous fight.

“We’re nearly there, Mr. Andrews,” the driver said, shaking the three of them out of their thoughts. “They’ve set up in the Vikings Stadium for now, as it’s the best natural fortification. We don’t know if there are more of those human terrorists in the city, after all.”

The car pulled smoothly off of the highway and into the gargantuan parking lot that surrounded the building on all sides. As it was midday, there were no lights emitting from the stadium. Still, the structure was intimidating enough, Will thought as he stepped out of the car. It loomed hundreds of feet over his head. The walls were made of reflective glass and shined the bright light of the sun above directly into their eyes.

Beckham made no move to exit the car, another action that rang suspiciously in Will’s mind. Then again, perhaps the man simply had no desire to be in the presence of five Nexians at once. Catching Will’s eye, he lowered the passenger side window of the car. “I’ll wait here for you, sir. When you’ve finished meeting with our guests, I’ll drive you back to the airport or the hotel, whichever you prefer.”

So he intended to stay. That lent some credit to the idea that Will and his allies were expected to survive this encounter. Or yet again, perhaps it was nothing more than a continuation of the bluff. But as he studied Beckham’s expression out of the corner of his eye, the man seemed content. He’d turned the car off and had pulled out a book to read. Maybe he reading too far into it, after all, Will thought.

“Very well,” he said to the others. “Let’s get this over with.”

Nodding in confirmation, they fell to either side of him as he strode forward. In formation and on the lookout for any approaching trouble, they made their way to the stadium.

“Tell me about the day you first joined the Fire Nexus.”

Jerik and Nick were seated around a large bonfire in the middle of the Fire Nexus camp. The blaze was warm enough that even Nick and Charlisa could barely feel the cold of the tundra around them, but it did make Jerik slightly dizzy with the heat. More than once in the past hour, he’d had to take a short stroll away from the fire, surrounding himself in cold and revitalizing himself. They’d never run the fire so hot before, save for those times when Thunder Nexus members came to visit.

Charlisa frowned thoughtfully at Nick’s request. “Well, I didn’t really join the Nexus. At least, not in the same way that you all did.” Her eyes sparkled with the hint of some distant memory as she peered into the core of the bonfire. It cast dancing shadows across her face as if mimicking the dark emotions that arose each time she remembered her father.

“Your father was the first Alpha,” Nick said. It wasn’t a question, but a well-known piece of Nexian history.”

“There’s no way of knowing exactly what time all of the Alphas turned,” Charlisa said with a slight smile. “But Father was always certain that he’d awoken first. Tobias said that he visited Father first, after all.”

There it was again. The mention of this strange ‘Tobias’ figure, the one whom Grimr called Naturas. The man that, if rumors were to be believed, had brought the Nexus powers from his world into Earth. The man hadn’t been sighted in years, ever since Will had defeated the last Soul Nexus member, Togai, in combat in the tundra.

“I suppose it felt like destiny at the time,” Charlisa sighed, almost seeming to get lost in the flames. They could have believed that she wasn’t aware they were there, and was just talking to herself. “When Father came home radiating his aura of warmth, we couldn’t make heads or tails of it. He was rambling about nearly freezing to death outside the village, but he had no sign of frostbite. We thought he’d gone mad.

“Then, of course, he figured out that he could create fire. Completely burned down our house. Thankfully, my mom and I got out safely. We thought he’d died until he came out without a scratch on him.”

She closed her eyes for a moment, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. “He gave me the powers on accident before he realized that he had that ability. It was just a simple hug because we were relieved the fire hadn’t killed him. It wasn’t until several months later, when we heard of the other Alphas, that we realized what had happened.”

“Is it true that the military tried to capture him?” Nick asked. “Everyone says that the governments of the world tried to capture the Alphas at first.”

Charlisa nodded. “It was a crazy time. I was barely fifteen at the time, but I can still remember it. He killed so many soldiers that day, in his attempt to defend the village. He even shot down a jet that was flying overhead.”

Jerik let out a low whistle. He’d thought of plenty of military applications for his powers since joining the Fire Nexus. Not once did he think that he could contend with an actual fighter jet. “So you didn’t go through the usual awakening process to get your powers.”

Nick looked at him in some confusion. “Awakening process? What’s that?”

“It’s not really a secret,” Charlisa answered. “Before the Fire Nexians gain their powers, the Alpha leads them out into the tundra, and makes them wear normal clothing. It’s cold enough out there to kill a normal person, you know. But the fire comes to life then, and heats up our bodies, saving our lives.”

Understanding dawned in Nick’s face. “Oh. That sounds like the plunge we all had to take.”

“The plunge?” Jerik asked, thrown by the reply. “That sounds like you jump off a cliff to activate your powers.”

“We’re pushed, actually,” Nick replied with a laugh. “But it triggers our survival instinct, and we fly.”

“Like baby birds,” Jerik pointed out with a bark of laughter. “Does every Nexian have to go through a near-death experience before they can use their powers?”

“It’s not required,” Charlisa explained. “But it’s recommended. It’s the only way we can truly appreciate our Condition.”

There was a dull roar above, and they all glanced up, seeing a plane flying overhead. The laughter around the fire died out then, and it was no real mystery why.

“He’s gotta pick the Fire Nexus first,” Jerik said. “And it’s gotta be any day now.”

“I understand why you two have to do this,” Charlisa said. “I can’t help, but I can support it. Just be careful.”