by Lola StVil
She still hates me. Even after what we’ve just done. I know she felt the connection between us, but she regrets that it’s there. She regrets me.
I feel a sharp stab of disappointment and hurt, but I’m not going to let her see how much it kills me. If she can turn her feelings for me on and off at will, then maybe I should learn to do the same to her.
“Fucking hell, Atlas, can you not do that?” I snap as I get to my feet and pull my jeans back on.
It comes out harsher than I wanted it to, and she looks hurt for a second. I want to hold her, kiss away the hurt, but a little part of me is glad I can still hurt her the way she hurts me.
“Do what?” she demands as she pulls her bra back into place through her top.
I remember how soft her skin felt and how hard her nipple felt in comparison to it. I pull my T-shirt back on, forcing the memory away.
“The look of regret. I already know you fucking hate me, and you hate that this happened. But you don’t have to go out of your way to show me just how much you regret it.”
She opens her mouth to speak and falters a little. She tries again.
“You don’t know anything,” she sighs.
“Bullshit, Disney, I know what regret looks like. And you are full of it.”
“Just leave it alone, Kane,” she says, sounding angry now.
“Why? So you don’t hurt me? That’s a joke. Just fucking admit it. You’re sorry you ever met me. I can see it on your face, Princess, so don’t even bother fucking lying.”
Why do I do this to myself? Why did I have to ruin the moment? I should have just pretended I didn’t see the look on her face and left it at that. But no, I had to push it to the point where she’s backed into a corner, and now she’ll confirm she hates me and I’ll spend more time going crazy over her.
“Alright. Fine. I’ll say it. I do regret it. And I am sorry; I’m sorry that after everything you have done, I still can’t find it in me to stay away from you, I can’t hate you, and I can’t stop fucking needing you. And I regret that I don’t regret what we just did. I should be running out of here filled with shame, but I’m not. And that makes me feel like shit. Okay? Are you happy now?”
Happy? I’m fucking ecstatic. I shouldn’t be, but I am. She doesn’t hate me half as much as she wants to.
“That felt too fucking good to be wrong, Disney, and you know it.”
“Are you crazy? You killed someone I loved. I shouldn’t want to be anywhere near you.”
I resist the urge to point out she’s just killed someone Langston loves. Now really isn’t the time.
“When I got here, you were annoyed because you thought I was Pest coming to distract you from plotting ways to kill my friends, not to mention the rest of the world.”
I nod, but it’s a lie. I didn’t care one way or the other what she saw. All I cared about was that she was here.
“There may come a day when we will have to face each other and fight to the death. Do you get that? I will have to try to kill you. And you will have to try to kill me.”
Some of the anger leaves her, replaced with sad acceptance. She might be ready to accept that as our fate, but I’m not. Not yet.
“I wouldn’t do that. I’ve told you before. Whatever might happen on this fucking stupid quest, I will never kill you.”
“No? But you’d kill my father, my team, oh, and the world.”
I could deny it, but what’s the point? She knows it’s the truth.
“To keep you safe, yes.”
She looks over at me with a mixture of sadness, longing, and resignation.
“I don’t know which of us is more screwed up. Goodbye, Liam.”
She’s down the rest of the stairs and out of the door before I even have a chance to respond. I shake my head and give a half smile. That girl is something else.
I don’t spend long standing looking at the closed door. Instead, I turn and run up the staircase. I go to the cupboard at the back of the room and throw it open; I search the top shelf until I find what I am looking for.
The last Beeline tracker sits in my palm. It blends in with the color of my skin so that I can barely see it. It will blend into any surroundings, making it virtually impossible to spot.
I hesitate for a moment. Should I do this? Should I put the tracker on Atlas or is it one betrayal too far?
I have to. It’s the only way I can guarantee I’ll be able to keep her safe.
I crack the device open and press my finger onto the sensor. I’ve waited so long for this moment. I first had the idea to track Atlas after Talon almost killed her, but it’s only now I’ve been able to get ahold of her DNA and make it possible.
I click the Beeline closed and grab my cell phone. I link my cell phone to the device and open up the app.
“Tracking device enabled. Your chosen subjects are Atlas Morgan and Liam Kane. Please select your target,” the cold robotic voice informs me.
I’ve entered a mixture of our DNA. I smile to myself as I think about how our DNA got mixed in the first place.
I select Atlas’s name, and a picture of her flashes up on the screen. I smile as I run my thumb over her picture.
“Target, Atlas Morgan, selected. Activate device to begin tracking,” the voice says.
Dammit. I don’t know how to activate the thing. I thought selecting Atlas’s name would be enough, but it’s obviously not.
I’ll have to call Pest, and I don’t want to. He’ll try to talk me out of it. He will have a thousand and one moral objections to me tracking Atlas.
I reluctantly exit the app and call Pest.
“Hey, Pest. I need you to do me a favor. No questions asked. Okay?” I say.
“Hmmm,” Pest acknowledges, not committing one way or the other.
“I need you to activate the last Beeline device.”
“Why?” Pest asks.
“What happened to no questions asked?”
“That was your idea. Which I didn’t agree to.”
Dammit, Pest is fucking irritating.
“I’m tracking Atlas. She came around here earlier, and I managed to get a strand of her DNA.”
“You two made up?”
“Sort of,” I say.
“And now you want to spy on her? I don’t think I can help you with this one, Kane.”
I swallow down the rage that threatens to consume me. If I get mad at Pest, he’ll never agree to this. He can be so fucking stubborn, especially when he believes something is immoral.
“It’s not what you think, Pest. I have to stay one step ahead of her on this quest so I can keep her safe.”
He doesn’t reply, and I know he’s coming around.
“You know how dangerous this quest is going to be. How can I protect her if I don’t know where the fuck she is? Just activate the damn thing.”
“Okay. But if this backfires, and I can almost guarantee you it will, I want it noted now that I’m telling you this is a bad idea.”
“Okay. Whatever.”
A series of electronic beeps come down the line as Pest goes into the app and activates the Beeline.
“It’s done; don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“I won’t. Thanks, Pest,” I say.
I hang up and open the app again.
“Tracker activated,” the electronic voice says.
The beeline floats into the air. I can’t see it. I only know it’s airborne now because I can no longer feel it sitting in my palm. I rush over and open a window.
“Locating target,” the voice says.
I pace impatiently, staring at the screen as a map appears and the tracker makes its way along it. A flashing red dot, which I assume is Atlas, moves slowly ahead of the tracker.
“Target acquired. View now?”
I click on yes, and Atlas appears on my screen. She’s walking quickly along the street towards the house.
As she passes the bookstore, I close the viewer. I don’t want to abuse it. That’s something I prom
ised myself I wouldn’t do. I have more than my fair share of faults, but I’m not a pervert. I don’t want to spy on Atlas; I only want to use the device when I think she might be in danger.
I go into the settings and select “notify me of danger” and close the app. I go back to the table and return to my brainstorming.
My cell phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out, expecting a lecture text from Pest.
Instead, I see one new notification from Beeline. I click it open.
“Cortisol levels rising in target. Danger detected. View now?”
Shit. It didn’t take Atlas long to run into trouble.
I click yes, and Atlas comes into view on the screen. She stands in her garden, almost on the set of steps leading to the door of the house. The door slams open and Langston flies out.
“You heartless bitch,” she screams.
“Langston. I—” Atlas starts, but she doesn’t get a chance to finish.
Langston hurls a bolt of electricity from her hand. It hits Atlas square in the chest, catching her off guard. She is thrown backward, flying through the air. She lands with a thud on her back. Her eyes are closed.
Shit.
I jump to my feet and begin pacing the room, not taking my eyes off the screen.
“Come on, Disney, get up,” I whisper to the screen.
“Come on.”
Langston marches across the grass towards Atlas. The rest of the team pours out of the door and down the steps.
“Langston, stop. You’re not thinking straight,” Perry shouts.
“Oh, I’m thinking straight alright,” Langston says without slowing down.
The team runs to catch up with her, and Remy gets out in front of her.
“Get out of the way, Remy,” Langston says coldly.
“Just stop and think about what you’re about to do,” Remy pleads with her. “This won’t bring Drew back.”
Langston’s rage gets the better of her, and she shoves Remy hard to one side. Remy stumbles but manages to keep her balance. She reaches for Langston’s sleeve, but Langston snatches her arm out of the way, and she misses.
She’s a couple of steps away from Atlas when she turns abruptly and waves her hands. A force field springs up around them. I know what it is immediately. She’s erected a shield so no one can interfere with what she’s about to do.
The team doesn’t catch on as quickly as I do, and they run into the shield, bouncing backwards. Perry tumbles to the ground. The team tries to blast through the shield, but they realize it’s no use. I can see their mouths moving—no doubt they’re still shouting at Langston to stop, but she can no longer hear them.
“Come on, Disney,” I shout again.
I’m torn. If I open a portal and go over there, Atlas will know I’m spying on her, and that’ll be the end of that. I’ll no longer be able to keep her out of the more real danger she’ll have to face. But if I don’t, she might not even get a chance to try and face anything else.
Atlas’s eyes open, and she springs to her feet just before Langston reaches her. I breathe a sigh of relief.
“Okay, Disney. You’ve got this. You can take her,” I whisper.
“Danger detected. Cortisol levels rising,” the electronic voice says, distracting me for a moment.
I put the voice on mute and turn my attention back to Atlas and Langston.
“Langston. Stop. I’m so sorry for what I had to do,” Atlas says.
“You’re sorry. Oh, why didn’t you say so? That makes everything okay,” Langston says sarcastically.
“I know you’re hurting,” Atlas says.
“You don’t know anything about me,” Langston shouts.
She aims two large balls of electricity at Atlas. They fly towards her, and my breath catches in my throat as she leaps into the air just in time to avoid them.
“I’m not going to fight you, Langston,” Atlas says.
“Well this won’t take long then, will it?” Langston says.
She fires again, and again Atlas dodges the ball of electricity that comes at her.
Langston’s anger isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it looks like Atlas’s refusal to fight her is just igniting her temper. She fires electric ball after electric ball at Atlas. Atlas counters with lasers that blast the balls out of the air, and they disappear in a shower of sparks.
An errant spark floats down, and Atlas isn’t quick enough to dodge it. It lands on her shoulder, and I hear the hiss of her flesh burning.
“Last warning, Langston. Stop this right now,” Atlas says through gritted teeth.
I can hear the pain in her voice, but more than that, I can hear the rage there. If Langston keeps pushing her, this isn’t going to end well for either of them.
“Or what?” Langston taunts Atlas, firing at her again.
“Or this,” Atlas says.
She ducks beneath the electricity ball and fires a thick red laser at Langston. Langston narrowly avoids being hit.
“So much for not fighting me,” Langston says. “Maybe you can kill me like you killed Drew. Oh, that’s right. You can’t. Because I don’t have my back to you, fucking coward.”
That does it. Atlas’s face contorts in what I at first mistake for anguish, but soon see is pure rage.
She begins to rain lasers down on Langston. Langston tries to erect a shield, but her power won’t allow her to open up a new shield without dropping the other one, and she isn’t ready to have the rest of the team get in her way.
Langston drops to the ground and rolls. Atlas springs into the air, diving over Langston, who jumps back to her feet. They face each other, circling, each waiting for an opening.
Langston sees her chance, and an electricity ball flies at Atlas. Atlas sees it coming and deflects it, but Langston follows it with two more in quick succession. One of them catches Atlas in the arm, and she cries out in pain as the sparks fly up and down her arm, leaving it momentarily useless.
The wounded arm doesn’t even slow Atlas down, and I find myself suddenly glad I won’t have to battle her. I’m not so sure I could kill her even if I wanted to.
She fires another laser from her good arm. And another and another. They ping harmlessly off Langston’s electricity balls, but one gets through, and my mouth drops open as a large gash appears on Langston’s stomach.
Langston pushes one hand to the wound. She looks at the blood on her hand, and her jaw drops open. She eyes Atlas with snakelike slits.
“You’re so fucking dead,” she hisses.
The two of them leap at each other at the same moment, their powers momentarily forgotten as they go hand to hand. Punches fly. Langston’s lip bursts open in a spray of blood. A large gash opens in Atlas’s head, and her nose is bleeding.
Langston throws a hard punch, but Atlas launches into the air, using Langston’s shoulders as a leap pad. She comes down gracefully and spins. Langston whips around so she’s facing Atlas again. Atlas times it just right, throwing a high kick that catches Langston in the face.
Langston goes down. Atlas runs to where she lays and stands, straddling her. She drops to her knees and presses her forearm across Langston’s throat.
Langston’s hands come up, clawing at Atlas’s arm, but it’s as though Atlas doesn’t even notice. Langston’s face starts to turn red, her air supply cut off. The hands that are clawing at Atlas grow weaker and fall to the ground. Atlas is about to kill; again.
I am frozen to the spot as I watch Atlas pin Langston down by her throat. If no one intervenes, Langston is going to be dead, and I don’t know if Atlas can ever come back from that.
As I watch, I see Atlas’s tensed muscles relax a bit, and then she springs up and stands over Langston. I breathe a sigh of relief that’s matched by the rest of the team as they look on. The tension remains, and it’s so palpable I can almost feel it from here, but the immediate threat has passed.
Langston’s hands fly to her throat. She lies where she is for a moment, coughing and retching. Atlas st
ands over her, watching her with a look of disdain. She gives Langston a moment to collect herself.
Langston gets herself into a sitting position. She rubs her throat gently and gives Atlas a look that could turn even the warmest heart to stone. Atlas ignores it.
“If you ever try anything like that again, I won’t stop. Are we clear?” Atlas snaps.
Langston’s mouth opens and then closes, and she nods. Atlas nods back to her. They understand each other.
Atlas reaches down a hand to Langston. At first, I think she will ignore it, but she takes it, and Atlas pulls her to her feet. She nods towards the house, and the team files in with Langston and Atlas bringing up the rear.
I admire the fact that Atlas allows Langston to walk behind her and not once does she glance back over her shoulder to make sure she’s not going to try anything. This tells Langston way more than the fight did. Atlas is in charge, and she expects her team to listen to what she tells them.
And it seems to have worked. Langston glares at the back of Atlas’s head, but she makes no move to attack her again. I think she might have learned her lesson when it comes to Atlas. She might be nice, almost too nice at times, but she won’t stand to be fucked with.
The team gathers in the living room. Atlas stands in front of the team, while the others sit around waiting to hear what she has to say.
She addresses Langston first.
“What just happened out there—let’s just forget about it. It didn’t happen. Okay?”
Langston nods. It’s not like she has much of a choice. She was beaten, and she knows it. It was far from being her finest moment, and I’m sure she’ll be only too happy to forget it ever happened.
“Say whatever you have to say to me now, and then we move on,” Atlas says.
Langston looks up at her, her face a mask of misery.
“You killed the one person I wanted to spend forever with. Why?”
“Because it was the only way to get the information we needed about Dax. I did what I had to, Langston. If it makes it any better, I want you to know that I truly am sorry for hurting you, and I hated having to do what I did.”
“It doesn’t. Make it any better, I mean,” Langston says.
