Eight Factors: Eight Factors, #6

By Meyari McFarland

Deadly danger reveals incredible powers.

Those Gifted with eight Factors erupt into superheroes when faced with death. Only to discover that greater threats lurk under their new world.

Meyari McFarland crafts a world where greatness lurks inside of everyone but who can say who the true villains are?

The collection includes:

Shadow Dreams
Eruption Event
Foster Home
Valkyrie
Intruder

• Language: English
• Publisher: MDR Publishing
• Release date: Mar 22, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310955259

Meyari McFarland

Meyari McFarland has been telling stories since she was a small child. Her stories range from SF and Fantasy adventures to Romances but they always feature strong characters who do what they think is right no matter what gets in their way. Her series range from Space Opera Romance in the Drath series to Epic Fantasy in the Mages of Tindiere world. Other series include Matriarchies of Muirin, the Clockwork Rift Steampunk mysteries, and the Tales of Unification urban fantasy stories, plus many more. You can find all of her work on MDR Publishing's website at www.MDR-Publishing.com.

Book preview

Eight Factors

By Meyari McFarland

Some Other Books by Meyari McFarland:

Matriarchies of Muirin:

Coming Together

Fitting In

Following the Beacon

The Solace of Her Clan

Debts to Recover:

The Nature of Beasts

Assumptions of Debt

The Manor Verse:

A New Path

Following the Trail

Crafting Home

Finding a Way

Go Between

Like Arrows of Fate

The Drath Verse

Clash of Lines

Joining of Lines

Consort of the Crystal Palace

Fragments of a Chain

Stranded With You

Reunited Hearts

Copyright ©2017 by Mary Raichle

Copyright ©2014 by Mary Raichle

Cover image

© Maxutov | Dreamstime.com - Superhero Looks Into The Distance Photo

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be emailed to [e-mail].

This book is also available in TPB format from all major retailers.

Dedication:

This story is dedicated to Zina for giving me the encouragement to get started, to Hearts for being one of my favorite superhero writers and to every comic book reader everywhere. Keep the dream alive, everyone!

Table of Contents

Foreword

Shadow Dreams

Eruption Event

Foster Home

Valkyrie

Intruder

Excerpt: Repair and Rebuild

Afterword

Foreword

Eight Factors is a collection of short stories that I wrote to establish the Eight Factors universe and the main characters inside it. It's a superhero universe, though a darker one than most.

The five stories in this collection are arranged chronologically. They tell the initial events that drew each of the four main characters into the world of the Gifted and how those events shaped their personalities.

Welcome to the Eight Factors universe, where everyone holds power inside of them. That power can erupt, but only under the worst circumstances.

Meyari McFarland

Shadow Dreams

Shadows shifted over the walls like insects creeping out of the corners in scuttling waves that advanced, retreated, advanced, retreated. Corey watched them move, his breath whistling through his clenched teeth. He couldn't breathe through his nose. He'd cried so much that his head throbbed and his nose was stuffed tight.

Jenner, the 2-Gift-winged who'd been assigned to watch Corey and his brothers tonight, had slapped Jenner when he wouldn't stop crying. Corey unclenched his teeth just long enough to probe the sore spot on his lip with his tongue. Blood bloomed coppery and hot, prompting fresh tears and more of the shakes that had driven Jenner to carry Corey upstairs to his bedroom.

You're nearly five years old, Jenner had scolded Corey as he watched Corey put on his pajamas. Your parents are strong. They're warriors and they know what they're doing. There's no reason for you to be this upset about their battle.

Scary… was all that Corey had said in response, all that he could say.

He'd been crying too hard, his chest heaving and tears dripping down his cheeks.

Besides, it wasn't the battle that had him frightened. It was the realization that in a few years he'd be out there being shot at by enemy soldiers. Corey would have to put on one of the black and silver uniforms that marked his family's unit. He'd have a rank and orders and weapons. No matter what Corey thought about it, he'd be expected to shoot people, blast them with whatever light powers he got, and kill them.

That was what his family did: fight, kill and die.

Jenner had stomped back downstairs, rainbow feathered wings flipping with agitation on his back, to watch the news report on the fighting in Bahrain with Corey's big brothers. They all had their powers already. Randy had fire Gifts, so that whenever he got excited his hair turned into flame. Joel had been glowing like the sun, floating near the ceiling as he cheered Mom's efforts to decapitate the enemy soldiers with her light gifts. Marty had been lying on the floor, feet shimmering with light as he chortled at Dad's swoop in front of the enemy line as they fired their guns. Bullets had bounced off his chest, face and hands, rebounding to injure the people they were supposed to defend.

I don't want to fight, Corey whispered to the shifting shadows in his room.

He fought against another sob, absolutely terrified that tomorrow or the next day, when he went back to preschool, there'd be another training session where they tried to make his powers erupt. Everything changed when your powers came. He'd seen that for all three of his brothers. They didn't get to play with blocks or read books anymore. Now they had to go and learn to use their powers all day long. Reading and writing, math and science, those weren't important for Gifted warriors.

Only the ability to fight and die mattered.

I don't want to die! Corey gulped and tried to breathe.

The shuddering breath he drew in as he fought against the fear and certainty of death matched the shadow's movements perfectly. Everything froze for a long moment as Corey realized that every shift of the shadows had matched his breathing. The drift of the shadows across the walls followed his eyes.

I'm doing it, Corey whispered so quietly that he could barely hear his own words.

He sat up in his bed, staring at the shadows that now were still the way they were supposed to be. He'd thought that having your Gifts erupt was a big scary thing, full of explosions and people yelling but none of that had happened for Corey. There had just been tears (terror), Jenner shouting (so angry) and Corey's bone deep certainty that he was going to die.

I can't… Corey started to say only to stop.

The mind-Gifts would be listening. They'd be looking for an eruption. Sure, Corey's gifts erupting had been quiet, small, but they'd still be looking. If he talked about it they'd hear Corey and he'd be found out and then he'd have to train and fight and die and he didn't want to die! Corey lay back down and rolled over to stare at the wall next to his bed. The shadows moved to match his focus, making Corey bite his lip.

I need to stop moving the shadows, Corey thought. If I can stop moving the shadows, hide that they shift for me, then maybe I can hide that my Gift is awake.

It was a crazy idea. The mind-Gifts were always scanning, looking for people whose Gifts were erupting. They had to. New Gifts were dangerous, out of control and usually terrified. Gifts didn't erupt from nothing. No, you had to be terrified, on the verge of death before they broke loose. Corey fought to control his breathing, taking deep breaths and holding them before letting them out slowly.

The shadows stopped moving but now Corey realized that he could hear something, people talking. It wasn't Jenner and his brother. These were grown up voices. Corey started and then buried his face in the pillow when he realized that one of them was the Commander's voice.

Anything new? the Commander asked in a bored voice that was completely unlike the cheerfully loud tone he normally used.

Some flickers from Captain Twelve's house, a man's voice replied, equally bored. Looks like Jenner has the kids watching the battle in Bahrain.

Any signs that Corey's erupting? the Commander asked with a little bit more interest.

No, sir, the man sighed. Jenner reported that Corey had a temper tantrum but no signs of Gifts. He's young for it. Give it another three or four years and he should be the strongest in his family.

He's got all eight factors, the Commander said, his voice somehow going greedy and dark in ways that made Corey shiver in his bed. When he erupts it's going to be incredible. We have to make sure he's ours. I won't let any of the other organizations get their hands on that boy.

Corey looked into the shadows along the wall. They couldn't tell that his powers had erupted. He was safe, for the moment at least. But he wouldn't be safe if he couldn't conceal the powers when he got up in the morning. The way the Commander had talked about Corey made him shudder. There was something hungry in his voice, as if Corey was the one thing he wanted more than anything else in the world.

Not Gifted, Corey whispered as he touched the wall.

It felt cooler where his shadow was. Corey focused hard on pulling the shadows back inside of himself, back where they'd be safe, where no one could see them. Cold slid into his veins, crept along his bones. It was dark inside of a human body, Corey realized, very dark. Dark and safe for his shadows to hide. They had to go deep, so deep inside that they didn't show on his hair or skin or eyes or mouth.

The deeper the shadows went the stronger they felt. Corey felt stronger. He could see his parents fighting in Bahrain. The Commander was sipping coffee in the control center, one hip leaned against one of the control panels as the man on watch filled him in on the battles going on around the world.

I have all eight factors, Corey mused as he listened to people all around the world. That... that means I'm going to be very, very strong. I already have my shadows and I can hear people with my mind. So maybe I'll be super strong like Daddy, too, plus lots of other things. It's only going to grow. I have to watch, be careful that I don't mess up.

His teachers at preschool had taught him to count by going through each of the eight factors that a Gifted person could have. One is for Light, glowing in the night. Two is for the mind. Three is for your body, with wings and shapes and strength. Four is for heat, making fire and melting things. Five is for the water that makes up all our bodies. Six is for plants curling and growing towards you. Seven is for healing everything that