The Final Coordinate (The Coordinate Book 3) Read online

  The Final Coordinate

  Book 3 in The Coordinate Series

  By Marc Jacobs © 2022

  The Story

  It has been three months since Logan and Emma escaped the battle in the Hidden City, but the fight for survival has just begun. Supay has destroyed Vanirya, and Earth is next, unless they can find the Leyandermál, the most powerful weapon in the universe, before Supay, or anyone else, does.

  They will first need to find Isa, who holds the key to locating the Leyandermál, but she is lost in time with Annika. Logan and Emma will have to search throughout history to find her, unraveling the clues left behind in humanity’s past, but their search will not be easy. Not everyone wants them to succeed, while others are sinisterly counting on it.

  Join Emma and Logan as they race against time to save humanity, and each other, in The Final Coordinate, the thrilling conclusion to The Coordinate series, where failure may be the only option…

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2022 by Marc Jacobs

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher, or copyright owners, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, or to use or reproduce any portion of this book, write to [email protected].

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the product of the author’s imagination and are not used factiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing, 2022

  Amazon ASIN: B09QC3Z3SP

  Publisher: Marc Jacobs

  [email protected]

  www.marcjacobsauthor.com

  Dedication

  To My Loving Family, Friends, and Editors:

  This book is dedicated with love and appreciation to my family, my friends, and all my incredible editors − who have inspired me and helped me to make this series a reality.

  Contents

  The Final Coordinate

  The Story

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Contents

  Chapter 1 – Flight

  Chapter 2 – Nightmares

  Chapter 3 – Theories

  Chapter 4 – A Better Truth

  Chapter 5 – Where the Geese Don’t Fly

  Chapter 6 – Just Scratching the Surface

  Chapter 7 – Homecoming

  Chapter 8 – Operation 17 Tauri

  Chapter 9 – Friendship

  Chapter 10 – The AÁBs

  Chapter 11 – Norðrljós

  Chapter 12 – Canals of the Past

  Chapter 13 – The Doge’s Palace

  Chapter 14 – Il Mercato Di Rialto

  Chapter 15 – Electra-1

  Chapter 16 – Buckingham

  Chapter 17 – Cryptological

  Chapter 18 – Shugborough Hall

  Chapter 19 – 1598

  Chapter 20 – Revenge

  Chapter 21 – Portal Protocol

  Chapter 22 – The Drunken Unicorn

  Chapter 23 – The Red Room

  Chapter 24 – Heroes

  Chapter 25 – The Painful Truth

  Chapter 26 – Full Circle

  Chapter 27 – The Void

  Chapter 28 – Awakening

  Chapter 29 – An Act of War

  Chapter 30 – The Beinecke

  Chapter 31 – Operation Red Rescue

  Chapter 32 – Reunion

  Chapter 33 – The Wheels of Destiny

  Chapter 34 – The Price of Life

  Chapter 35 – A Seat At the Table

  Chapter 36 – Fire and Ice

  Chapter 37 – The Cityscape

  Chapter 38 – Homecoming

  Audiobooks

  Leave A Review

  Receive Updates

  There’s More!!!

  Credits

  Chapter 1 – Flight

  Isa and Annika carefully navigated down an icy hill, heading for the partially snow-covered, partially grass-covered Icelandic highlands nestled in between two mountain ranges. There was a 50’ deep river gorge ahead of them that jaggedly wove through the highlands as far as the eye could see in either direction. Spanning the river gorge was a path of ice forming a natural bridge suitable for crossing. A gust of wind whipped ice and snow off the ground, smacking their faces and reddening their already frigid cheeks.

  “It is the cold winds of the North Atlantic battling the subarctic winds of the Norwegian Sea,” commented Annika in Russian to her young Vaniryan friend, Isa, with whom she was lost in time in a foreign land.

  Isa, using her Vaniryan telepathic abilities to comprehend Annika’s words and communicate back in Russian, replied, “Isa does not know who is winning the battle of winds, but Isa knows who is not.” Isa raised her forearm to shield her face from another prickly gust.

  Fortunately, both their bodies remained warm in the thick brown outfits they’d been wearing since they escaped through the portal in Qelios’ compound amid the battle in the Hidden City. That seemed like forever ago, now. They worried about the outcome of that battle and what might have become of their friends.

  “The strong winds blowing off the ocean is actually a good sign. It means we are close,” said Annika.

  “Close to a way home for Isa?” asked the young Vaniryan, who looked barely 11-years old. Although given how long Vaniryans lived, Annika knew it was possible she was considerably older than that.

  “No, but we’re near the western coastline,” answered Annika, turning sideways to side-step down the icy slope as it got steeper to avoid falling.

  Following suit, Isa turned sideways and asked again, “And then Isa and Annika will find a way home there?”

  Annika shook her head. “To be honest, I don’t know what we’ll find when we get there.”

  “Will Annika’s kind be there?”

  Annika chuckled. “You are just full of questions today. Iceland’s biggest cities like Reykjavik, at least in the time I come from, are on the country’s southern and western coasts. I’m just hoping someone lives there, an early settlement, a small village, something.”

  “If people are there, will they be able to help Isa and Annika go home?” asked Isa, enduringly hopeful and unaware that her home had been destroyed by Supay shortly after their escape.

  “No.” Annika knew they had been lost at least 800-years in the past based on when the Vaniryan star – TYC 129-75-1 - went supernova, long before an inkling of the technology needed to generate a portal back to Vanirya existed.

  Confused, Isa replied, “Isa does not understand. If people cannot help, why does Annika want to find people?”

  “It is just an idea I have. Maybe there is still a way they can help us, some way we can get a message back to—”

  Annika was interrupted by the sound of horse hooves clopping on ice and approaching footsteps.

  “Someone is coming,” said Annika.

  “Has the Hunt found Isa and Annika already?”

  “No, I don’t think that’s it,” replied Annika. Gazing at Isa’s circular alien face, golden-white hair, silver-white skin, six-fingered hands, tiny mouth, missing nose and two perfectly round white eyes with radiating blue pupils, Annika was worried about how those approaching might react to Isa. “You have to hide!” she urged as the sounds drew nearer. Annika spotted some large boulders off in the distance. “Hurry, quick, hide over there!”

  “It is too far,” responded Isa, as the sound of horses and footsteps approaching were getting closer. “There is no time, and Isa will not leave Annika alone.”

  “But Isa—”

  Isa closed her eyes and focused. In a flash, the energy inside her started swirling, quickly consuming her in a swath of bright light while her energy rapidly reconstituted itself to replicate the energy signature of another human Isa had once touched: Emma. It was over quickly. Annika could hardly believe her eyes, but suddenly standing before her was a sweet looking 11-year-old version of Emma, green eyes, slightly pudgy youthful face, and long-blond hair.

  “How in the world? You look like—”

  Annika didn’t have time to finish marveling over Isa’s transformation as a horde of marauders came crashing over the hill’s peak and down the slope to investigate the strangers traversing their lands. The rugged marauders, wearing tattered skins, rough-fitted boots and carrying medieval weapons, ran up to them. A few rode on horseback.

  The men gathered behind their chieftain, a bushy, blond-bearded man clad in chain mail armor and wearing a helmet. The chieftain sat atop a majestic fjord horse, light tan in color, with a long thick white mane, a strong, arched neck, sturdy legs, and a compact, muscular body. The clan banged their weapons together to intimidate Isa and Annika.

  With one hand on the hilt of his large sword, the chieftain stared down at Annika and asked her in an unfamiliar language, “Hverjir eru þeir sem brjóta á jörðum okkar?” [“Who are the trespassers upon our land?”]

  Annika, who did not speak the language, didn’t understand what he was asking, although Isa, with her Vaniryan abilities, did. Annika remained silent, unsure how to respond, while Isa said nothing.

  Angered by Annika’s silence, the chieftain yelled at her. “Kona, þú ert óskynsamur
að hunsa mig. Hafa þeir þegar klippt tunguna út eins og ég ætla að gera ef þú talar ekki?” [“Woman, you are unwise to ignore me! Have they already cut out your tongue like I will do if you do so again?”] Annika continued to hesitate, so the chieftain drew his sword.

  Isa stepped in front of Annika, standing nose to nose with the fjord horse, sort of, since the horse towered over her. She addressed the chieftain, “Mor er forvirret og lider av den kalde isen og snøen. Vær så snill, ikke skad henne, hun er uvel.’ [“Mother is confused, suffering from the cold, ice and snow. Please do not hurt her, she is unwell.”]

  The chieftain cackled out-loud, followed by his men. “Þá er móðir þín veik og heimskuleg að láta barn tala fyrir hana.” [“Your mother is weak and foolish to let a child speak for her.”] His men banged their weapons together approvingly.

  Isa replied, “Fyrirgefðu móður. Móðir þýðir ekki að móðga.” [“Please forgive mother. Mother does not mean to offend.”] Isa took Annika’s hand and began telepathically explaining to her what was going on.

  The chieftain was not sympathetic. “Það getur engin fyrirgefning verið fyrir móður sem myndi yfirgefa heimili sitt með barni og flýja inn á láglendi þrátt fyrir að vera ekki nógu vel til að sjá barnið á öruggan hátt í gegnum ferðina. Móðir þín er grimm og ótrú, og við refsum grimmt og ótrú.” [“We cannot forgive a mother who abandons her home with her master’s child and escapes into the highlands despite not being well enough to see the child safely through the journey. Your mother is cruel and disloyal, and we punish the cruel and disloyal.”]

  Isa began tugging urgently at Annika’s hand to suggest that it was about time to run.

  Seeing Isa’s urging, and somewhat amused by it, the chieftain dismounted his fjord horse. He was a big man, heavy enough that his landing on the ice made a crunching boom. He took a commanding step forward and aggressively clutched Isa’s hair, pulling her head toward him. Annika tried grabbing his arm to pull it away but the chieftain swiftly swung his free, iron-knuckle-covered right fist at Annika. He dealt a harsh blow to the left side of her face that drove her down into the snow, breaking her nose and fracturing her cheekbone. Her nose immediately started gushing blood.

  “Nei!” [“No!”] cried Isa.

  The chieftain screamed, “Heimsk kona!” [“Stupid woman!”] and threw Isa to the ground in Annika’s direction. Isa helped Annika get back to her feet.

  The chieftain raised his sword for all to see and announced, “Stúlkan hefur stríðsanda. Við munum taka barnið aftur og gera hana að okkar eigin. Drepa konuna!” [“The girl has a warrior spirit! We will take the child back and make her our own. Kill the woman!”]

  The chieftain reached out to grab Isa again, but this time, Isa did not stand idly by. She looked at the fjord horse and caused her alien eyes to flare a bright blue color, spooking the horse. The horse neighed and reared up, knocking the chieftain over and causing his men to jump backwards. Startled, all the other horses reared up, too, and together with the fjord horse, started running wild among the men, knocking them over or forcing them to scramble out of the way, before the horses eventually galloped away uphill. Meanwhile, during the commotion, Isa and Annika had taken off downhill.

  “Náðu þeim! Dreptu þá báða!” [“Get them! Kill them both!”] hollered the chieftain, prompting his men to chase after them.

  “To the river, over the ice bridge!” screamed Annika, blood flowing out of her nose.

  The chieftain’s men pursued them but Isa and Annika reached the river gorge and ice bridge first. The bridge, which was nothing more than a build-up of ice rising 50’ above the water’s surface, did not entirely stop the river’s flow. It had several breaks in it that allowed water from upriver to squeeze through downriver. As they crossed the natural bridge, the horde continued to gain ground.

  “We have to do something, we cannot run forever,” uttered Annika after they reached the far end of the bridge, worried that the men would pursue unrelentingly until catching them. Annika, for one, was not sure how much longer she could keep it up. To her dismay, Isa stopped dead in her tracks near the end of the bridge. Stunned, Annika shouted, “What are you doing? Come on, we have to go!”

  Isa fixed her stance in the middle of the ice pass, glaring at the rushing mob. For a moment, she hesitated, wondering if she should, but then, she just exploded, unleashing a blast of blue energy from her fingertips directed at the ice pass, obliterating the ice in front of her. The ice bridge blew apart!

  Some ice chunks flew toward the chieftain and his men, striking several. Other chunks plunged into the river below. The break in the bridge extended 100 feet out from Isa’s toes. Two of the chieftain’s men caught near the end of the broken ice fell helplessly into the fast-flowing waters. Given the weight of their armor, they quickly sank below the surface and the river whisked them away.

  Isa stood there, resolute in her decision. They had deserved it, she told herself. The chieftain slowly stepped up to the other end of the shattered ice pass, not wanting to inadvertently fall over the unstable edge. If the loss of his men bothered him, it didn’t show. Rather, he stared at Isa, bewildered, angry and intrigued by what he had just witnessed. Isa stared back at him with a defiant gaze that conveyed a clear message: do not ever try to hurt Annika or Isa again.

  Isa turned around and walked toward Annika, who had a relieved smile on her face even though her left eye was already swollen shut and her cheek black and blue. Isa grinned back.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here before they find another way around,” said Annika.

  Chapter 2 – Nightmares

  Emma sat in a chair on an apartment balcony overlooking a jagged river gorge. She could see her breath in the early morning air of Borgarnes, a coastal town an hour north of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik. Even though it was 7 a.m., in the late winter, sunlight was still scarce with only a few beams peeking over the horizon. Emma had come to enjoy the early morning serenity over the last few months that they had been there. It gave her a chance to think, and lately, she found herself out on the balcony before dawn more often than not.

  Logan, who had just woken up, joined her outside in the chilly morning air. “Good morning,” he said, squeezing through the sticky sliding glass door.

  “Hi,” responded Emma without turning around.

  “Aren’t you cold?” he asked, himself wearing a sweatshirt and jeans but still feeling the chill.

  Emma shrugged her shoulders. “A little.”

  Logan sat down in a chair beside her. “How long have you been out here?”

  “A few hours.”

  “A few hours?”

  “I couldn’t sleep.”

  “You had another nightmare, didn’t you?” asked Logan, worried about her.

  “Logan, I saw him again.”

  “Was it the same dream?”

  “Mostly, but this time, I saw the end…”

  “What do you mean?”

  Her voice quivering, Emma whispered, “I saw it…”

  ∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆

  Supay, his hulking form dressed in all black and his radiating blue eyes staring at Emma, slowly approached her. She stood her ground among the shattered ruins of the Hidden City just after the battle, surrounded by lifeless Vaniryan bodies, broken ice structures, and a few surviving Remnants. Supay glared at her, gestured to the dead and screamed in a booming voice, “See what you have done?!”