Flames of Mars (Celestial Shifters Book 2)

by Tjalara Draper

  Nathan kept his eye on the microscope’s eyepiece as Gus slid in slide after slide.

  “This sample of your scales was exposed to the Venusian beam for one minute. This next slide, ten minutes. This slide was thirty. The last, an hour.”

  With each slide, the iridescent glitter fragments gradually took over the lumpy skin texture—until, in the last slide, the skin had completely disappeared.

  Nathan tore his gaze from the microscope, his heart pounding against his rib cage. When Dawn turned on the lights, the slideshow almost felt like a daydream.

  “You said you had a theory. What is it?”

  “Well, nothing’s confirmed yet,” Gus hedged.

  Nathan rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “Just spit it out.”

  “We believe that the more your body is exposed to Venusian energy, the more the crystal will spread, until eventually . . .”

  “Eventually I’ll be all crystal,” said Nathan when Gus didn’t finish.

  “Yes.”

  Dawn stepped up beside Gus. “We also believe it could affect your shifting abilities—as in, there could be a chance you won’t be able to haze back into human form.”

  A few seconds of silence passed as Nathan let that sink in. “How long?”

  “We don’t know,” said Dawn. “We’re still in the very early stages of figuring out what’s going on. But from what we’ve already seen, we assume the crystallization process takes effect only while you’re in Veniri form.”

  “So you’re saying I can’t ever shift again. I have to stay in human form for the rest of my life if I don’t want to . . . to become a life-sized Swarovski crystal statue.”

  “Well, technically, you would be a life-sized Diamantium statue—”

  Dawn elbowed Gus to make him shut up. “At the moment, we’re only speaking in hypotheticals. There’s no guarantee this condition is a death sentence.”

  “Do you seriously believe that?”

  Dawn’s lips pressed into a stern line. “I’ll admit I’m concerned about how far this crystallization will spread and what will happen if it starts to affect your muscle tissue and your internal organs, or even your . . .” She paused for several heartbeats. “Perhaps your brain may one day be affected too, if it hasn’t been already. I might even say, if you are determined to continue shifting into Veniri form, you might want to consider putting your affairs in order.”

  “So, what did Gus and Dawn have to say?”

  Nathan looked up. “Huh?”

  Sagan quirked an eyebrow. “Gus and Dawn. What did they say?”

  “Oh, um . . . they’re not too sure what’s causing the crystallization. More tests need to be done, at least before anything can be confirmed.”

  “What needs to be confirmed?”

  . . . consider putting your affairs in order.

  After a slight hesitation, Nathan shrugged. “Not a whole lot.”

  “Riiight.” Sagan crossed his arms, studying him.

  Seconds dragged by, but Nathan couldn’t think of anything to say or do to break Sagan’s pale, icy gaze or the building tension. Hopefully, the others would arrive soon to get the training session underway.

  After the whole “Nika beating the crap out of Violet” incident, Violet had been adamant about continuing with training. She’d assured him that Gus and Dawn had helped her heal fast, and after all, it was her baby somewhere out there. It took a bit of hounding and the addition of some new training rules—such as coming up with a safe word—before Nathan had been okay with moving forward.

  “Hey, sorry I’m late.” Violet crossed the pavilion to join them.

  Seeing the cuts and bruises on her face made Nathan inwardly cringe—Diamantium always left its mark. But the injuries already looked about a week old by human healing standards, and they even seemed to have improved significantly since Nathan spoke to her at breakfast. Perhaps it was the Magneii side of her that aided in the lack of scarring.

  Thane arrived a few seconds later and took a seat on the edge of the platform—much closer than he’d watched prior to the Nika incident. He’d warned Nathan earlier that if anything else happened to Violet, it would be Nathan’s skull skewered on the end of his elbow blades.

  Trying to ignore Thane’s ever-attentive gaze, Nathan suggested they start with a warm-up before getting into more fighting techniques.

  “Actually, can we try something else?” Violet asked.

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “That blonde Magneii shifter, she made this.” Violet pulled out a subtly glowing magenta dagger. “I swear she made it out of thin air, and she made a whip the same way. Have you heard of this? Is it a Magneii ability?”

  Nathan took the dagger and examined it. “Yes, I have heard of this ability. And no, it’s not just the Magneii. Any shifter can learn to do it. It’s called light forging.”

  Violet’s eyes lit up. “Can you teach me?”

  He twirled the weapon in his hand. The blade was razor sharp—clearly forged by a master. “I guess I can teach you the basics.”

  “Basics?” Violet frowned. “Why only the basics?”

  “Uh, well . . .” Nathan scratched the top of his head. How do I explain this? “Think of light forging like it’s a piano. Anyone can bash on the keys to make sound, but it takes a lot of training and hours upon hours of practice to play it effectively. You start by playing ‘Chopsticks’ before you can work your way up to ‘Flight of the Bumblebee.’”

  “Okay, well, let’s get into it then.”

  “All right.” Nathan handed her the magenta blade. “In that case, the first step is focusing on a beam of celestial light, then condensing it into a tangible mass. To do that, as always, you need to tune in to your inner melody and locate a beam.”

  Nathan tried to explain the next few steps with as much clarity as possible. Violet listened intently to his instructions while Sagan and Thane watched in silence.

  It didn’t take her long to locate a beam, and after a few tries, a small bundle of teal light about the size of a sesame seed began to hover several inches above her hand. The mass grew into an undulating pea-sized globule.

  “Whoa.” Despite the bead of sweat trailing down her temple, Violet’s whole face lit up with a smile. “I did it.”

  Sagan and Thane moved closer to inspect the tangible blob of light.

  “Now, that’s cool,” said Sagan.

  Nathan silently shared a glance with Thane. The look on the younger Veniri’s face held all the shock Nathan was suppressing. Never had he seen anyone forge their first light globule so fast. Either Violet had severe determination or she was a natural. Perhaps having the power of two shifter races enhanced her forging abilities. Who would even know? Every time Nathan thought he was beginning to understand Violet’s hybrid capabilities, she threw him a curveball that left him flustered.

  Violet flicked her gaze at Nathan. “What now?”

  “Well, you’ve managed to pull off the hardest step. Now you practice your control by molding the light into specific shapes, starting with a sphere.”

  She mastered the sphere in record time, and Nathan told her to add a flat surface, then another. After about half an hour, a small tetrahedron hovered over her hand. She was determined to add a fifth side, but her body had become tense all over, and her face and neck were flushed and covered in a sheen of sweat. If she pushed herself any harder, she was at risk of bursting a blood vessel.

  “I think we should call it a night,” said Nathan. “You don’t want to overexert yourself.”

  Once he convinced her to reverse the process by removing one flat surface at a time, she released the blob, and it instantly solidified and dropped into her hand like a small obscure pebble.

  Thane shook his head in disbelief. “That was amazing.”

  “Um . . . thanks.” Violet’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, and it disappeared as quickly as it had come. She turned back to Nathan. “Can we do this again tomorrow?”

&
nbsp; Nathan shrugged. “I don’t see why not. But like I said, practice, practice, practice is what will lead you to master the skill.”

  “And then what?” Violet asked.

  “I suppose the sky’s the limit, or perhaps your imagination is the limit. Light forging can be used for a number of things aside from weapons—building purposes, medical purposes, jewelry, and . . .” Blocking memories. He couldn’t bring himself to say that last one out loud—not when the last person he’d light forged a memory block for was Violet.

  He’d sealed away the memories of her kidnapping and everything she’d witnessed about the Veniri shifters who had captured her and murdered her best friend. For three years, the memory block had been a success, minus one small detail: Thane’s neck tattoo.

  If only Thane had heeded Nathan’s command at the time and stayed away from Violet. If he’d left her alone, things would have panned out completely differently. For everyone.

  19

  Heavens Have Mercy

  Violet was heading down the infirmary hallway after visiting Gus when a baby’s cry stopped her in her tracks. Almost against her will, her gaze drifted to the doorway of the nursery.

  Any day now, the three mothers and their Veniri babies would be transferred to their new safe location. Dawn had done all she could for them; the children were healthy, and none of the three women had any flulike symptoms, something Dawn had been keeping an eye out for since the revelation about Violet’s bite from Solace. As far as Dawn was concerned, unless the mothers were bitten by another shifter, there were no more concerns about their welfare.

  Since Skye’s passing, Autumn had taken over contacting the shifter safe houses on behalf of the mothers and their Veniri children, though she never spoke about it. Violet knew not to ask for details. The fewer people who knew the locations, the safer the mothers and their children would be.

  Another wail from the crying infant tore through Violet’s psyche.

  She should leave. But the infant’s cries refused to let her go. Tears pricked her eyes, blurring the world around her.

  The ache for Solace had turned into a black hole, with a gravitational pull so fierce Violet was starting to believe she would never be able to escape it. This grief was much greater than when she found out her own mother had abandoned her at the hospital after she was born. Greater than when her best friend Lyla was murdered. Even greater than when she found out Thane and especially Nathan had betrayed her.

  Violet hastily wiped her tears away and peeked into the nursery. Dawn was doing her rounds with the mothers and their babies, as well as having a cuddle or two. The infants had grown so much, even after a few days. How much had Solace grown since she last saw her?

  Violet tore herself away from the scene of mothers who hadn’t had their children ripped away from them.

  She needed to see Autumn.

  Eyes now dry, she hurried over to the exit and bumped into Sagan, who was on his way in.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey.” Sagan nodded to her. “I’m getting some of my stitches out.”

  “Oh, right.” With some effort, Violet pushed down her rising shame when she recalled how Sagan’s stitches were a result of their disastrous trip to Rivermyre. She hurried to change the subject. “How’s Nika? She hasn’t been coming to the training sessions, and I haven’t seen her around since that night.”

  Sagan’s eyes narrowed sharply before his expression smoothed back into neutral.

  “You’ve told her I’m fine, right?” Violet asked when he didn’t respond. “I’m practically healed already, and the pain wasn’t that bad. Gus has been working on developing a painkiller for Veniri shifters. The first trial gave me a raging hangover the next morning, the second gave me a wicked case of the hiccups, and the third, well . . . let’s just say I told Gus I resigned from being his guinea pig until he worked on it a little more.”

  Sagan softly snorted.

  “So?” Violet pressed.

  “What?”

  “Where’s Nika?”

  With a sigh, he buried his hands in his black jeans pockets. “Listen, about Nika . . . she’s a little more complicated than most, even in the hunter world. She tends to take things a little harder than necessary.”

  “Yeah, but even though things got a little out of hand, she doesn’t have to avoid me completely.”

  “Violet, Nika is gone.”

  “Gone? When?”

  “That night, after your sparring match. When I went to check on her, her things were gone.”

  Violet frowned. “When were you planning on telling me?”

  “Don’t worry. It’s a classic Nika thing to do. When she gets pissy, she runs off, and when she’s done sulking, she comes back.”

  “Okayyyy,” said Violet, dragging out the last syllable. “So when are you expecting her back?”

  A few beats passed before Sagan answered. “I’m not sure.”

  “Well, let me know when she returns.” Violet headed for the exit.

  “What are you up to now?” Sagan called after her.

  “I’m going to see Autumn. She’s been doing some heavy research to find Solace and those Magneii shifters who killed her parents. I thought I’d see if she has any news.”

  “If you wait until I get my stitches out, I’ll come with you.”

  About fifteen minutes later, Violet and Sagan found Autumn at her usual spot, surrounded by computers. She greeted them with a tired smile; other than the dark circles still around her eyes, she was looking a lot less like the poster child for doom and gloom.

  “Hey, Autumn,” said Violet. “Any progress?”

  Autumn tilted her head from side to side. “A little bit of yes, and unfortunately a big lot of no.” Violet and Sagan flanked her as she turned back to her screens. “My last attempt to break through the underground facility’s firewall failed, so I’m working on a new angle.”

  Images, maps, and several other items Violet didn’t understand popped up onto one screen or another, and Autumn pointed to a large block of text and symbols. “This is the new firewall-cracking code I’ve developed, and I have high hopes it’ll work this time.”

  Violet’s eyes bugged. She had no idea what she was looking at.

  “So, what does this mean?” Sagan asked, pointing to a progress bar currently at 98 percent.

  Autumn grimaced, twiddling one of her dreads. “When that hits one hundred, we’ll know if my code successfully cracked the firewall. It’s been running for days—since you guys took off to Rivermyre. It might be a few hours longer before we possibly hit the jackpot.”

  At that moment, Tio sauntered into the computer hut and grinned at everyone. “Hey, we have visitors.”

  Autumn swiveled her chair to face him, and they immediately dove into a complex conversation about whatever it was the two hackers had been fiddling with that morning. Violet glanced at Sagan, who shrugged and gave her a don’t-ask-me look.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’ll work on it in a minute.” Tio waved Autumn off, then turned back to Sagan and Violet. “Do you guys have any lunch plans? Mine’s on its way. There should be enough to share.”

  “No thanks,” said Violet. “I’ve got some stuff I need to work on.” After her light-forging session the night before, she was keen to continue building on what she’d learned, especially since she could already see herself getting better. She’d been growing more attuned to her connection with Venus and Mars, even during the day, and had managed to add a fifth side to her light mass that morning before breakfast. “I better get going, but let me know if you make more progress.”

  “Wait, I almost forgot.” Autumn jumped up from her chair, ran to the corner of the room, and came back with what looked like a scrap of paper. “I found my mom’s phone, and I was going through some of her photos . . .” She bit down on her trembling lip. “Anyway, I know this can’t replace the real thing, but I thought you might like it anyway.”

  Violet’s hand flew to her mouth, and tears immediat
ely flooded her eyes. Her heart was about to shatter into a million pieces.

  “What is it?” Sagan asked, coming to look over her shoulder.

  Autumn stood on Violet’s other side. “Last week, I figured it might be worth broadening my search for Solace in several government databases, just to be safe. But for an accurate search, I needed a recent photo of Solace. And, well . . . this is the one I used.”

  Violet couldn’t take her eyes away from the smiling little girl in the photograph. She remembered the day the photo was taken, and even recognized the adorable pink dress Skye had made and embellished with hand-stitched butterflies.

  Tears began to stream down her cheeks. “Autumn, you have no idea what this means to me.” She pulled her friend in for a hug.

  “Aw, don’t cry, Vi.” Autumn wiped away Violet’s tears with her thumbs. “You’re gonna make me cry. Rein it in, girlfriend. Sagan’s too macho to handle our estrogen-fueled emotions.”

  Sagan scoffed, gaining a laugh from both Violet and Autumn.

  Sniffling, Violet wiped her eyes and held the photo out to Sagan. “What do you think?”

  He nodded with a slight smile. “She’s beautiful.”

  Autumn’s face broke into a wide grin. “See? I was right when I said you and Thane would make beautiful babies.”

  “What did you just say?” said a voice behind them.

  Violet spun. Every cell in her body froze.

  Thane stood in the doorway, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. The tray of food clutched in his hands began to tilt forward, making the plates slide, and he fumbled a little before managing to set it down on the closest desk. Breathing hard, he took a step closer to Violet.

  “Oh no,” whispered Autumn from behind her.

  Thane’s eyes bore into Violet’s. “What did Autumn mean?”

  Violet’s mouth opened, but no words came out.

  Thane continued to walk toward her, decreasing the chasm between them. “Am I . . . a father?”

  Her mouth clamped shut as she took in the raw emotion on his face—a reflection of the emotional turmoil that had possessed her the moment Solace was taken. No matter what he’d done or what she felt for him, seeing it tore her apart inside.