[Atlantis Grail 01.0] Qualify

by Vera Nazarian

  Laronda and Dawn and the others surround me also. Laronda squeezes past Gordie and throws herself around my neck in a crazy embrace. She hugs me till it hurts and says, “Wow, girl, what a day! You and me both locked up! And why didn’t you tell me you could sing like that? Holy cannoli, what was it that you did to make the shuttle go up like that? I’ve never seen anything like it in my life! Oooh, they must really be making plans for you now!”

  “Well, they let her go, didn’t they!” Dawn says, and I swear, I have never observed Dawn crack a full-blown smile, but here she is, smiling wide at me, and patting my arm.

  “Oh! Thank you for the water, Hasmik!” I turn around and see the girl, and she waves with her hand like it was nothing, and finally gives me a big hug.

  In the next couple of minutes I give and receive a bunch of hugs and pats and squeezes and other good things from these people who, I can pretty much say, are all my friends, in one way or another.

  I turn with a smile and there’s Logan. He stands before me, hands in the pockets of his windbreaker, and his warm hazel eyes never leave my face. A light beautiful smile dances on his lips, and then he leans in close to my ear and says softly, “Thank God that’s over. . . .”

  His breath gently tickles my cheek and immediately I get swept into a warm rising ocean. I am filled with a sensation like champagne bubbles, and I can only whisper back, “Thank you for being here for me.”

  “You bet,” he says. “How are you feeling?”

  I smile up at him. “Okay, I guess. . . . Better—now that you and everyone are here, and I am not locked up.”

  “Okay, Gwen, you must be starving,” Laronda interrupts our moment of reverie.

  “Oh, yeah!” I say. “I could eat an elephant! Not that I would want to eat an elephant, poor elephant, but you know what I mean—”

  Logan smiles.

  “Yeah, yeah! Now, shut it, girl!” Laronda chatters. “The cafeteria is still open, but just barely, if we hurry we can make it to the nearest dorm!”

  “That would be my Green Dorm Eleven,” George says and points to a nearby building across the airfield.

  “Okay, let’s go!” And Laronda pulls me by the hand.

  We eat a last-minute dinner at George’s dorm, all of us packed around a small table in the nearly empty cafeteria, while they close down the place around us. After everything that’s happened, I am ravenous, and wolf down whatever mysterious macaroni casserole the cafeteria’s serving today.

  My brothers sit on both sides of me, and we elbow each other in friendly banter. It feels really strange and amazingly good to have my bros here like this, protective and comfortable. I briefly wonder if Gracie is okay, and if she is still freaked out about what happened to me. I probably should go see her after all this. . . .

  Meanwhile, Logan is only one seat away, on the other side of George. They talk among themselves, but often I find, as I sneak peeks in his direction, that Logan is also glancing at me. And whenever our gazes meet, he does not look away and smiles.

  Okay, that makes me feel amazing and incredibly giddy. I constantly forget to chew and swallow my food and blush a whole lot so that Laronda gives me funny googly-eyed looks across the table.

  “So when did they let you out, Laronda?” I say in order to say something. “What time was it?”

  “Not too long after they got you locked up instead.” Laronda glances at Dawn who has her mouth full of casserole. “What was it, Dawn, around nine AM?”

  Dawn nods at me, swallows. “Uh-huh, yeah. I was still waiting for you when I saw Laronda was released. Then we both asked about you and they told us you’re arrested. That’s when everything got really crazy. . . . Yeesh.”

  “So, Gwen,” Logan says suddenly. “Any plans to go running tonight? I was thinking to do some laps at the AC building track.”

  “Oh . . .” I say. “Oh, yeah, sure. After all that lazing around in my four-star jailhouse hotel room, I could use some exercise. Except I have that thing at eight—you know—the evil appointment. I have to be over at his office—for whatever training or torture Command Pilot Kass has planned for me.”

  “Okay,” he says. “But we could fit in a few laps for fifteen minutes before you have to be there, right?”

  “I guess! Okay, then!” I smile shyly.

  “Great!” And Logan finishes the rest of the juice in his glass.

  After everyone disperses, Logan and I head over to the Arena Commons super structure. As we walk, I notice how a few Candidates who are also out and about, stare at me.

  In fact, I should mention, this staring phenomenon started as soon as we got back from my “demonstration” ordeal at the airfield and went to eat dinner—news must have spread fast around the dorms, and everyone in the lobby of Green Dorm Eleven was watching and talking about me in quiet and not-so-quiet ways, as soon as they saw us coming.

  “Gwen, how are you holding up?” Logan says, as he matches his longer stride to mine and then suddenly places his arm around my shoulders. His touch is light but tangible enough to send jolts of electricity racing all throughout my body. His arm is pressed around me and I look up at him with a quick shy glance, then immediately look straight ahead, while I feel like my lungs are about to burst.

  “Well,” I say, “it’s been both terrifying and sort of cathartic. It’s weird to have people think I’m either some kind of criminal terrorist or freak of nature—or both. But it’s a relief to have the whole thing out in the open—even though they still suspect me of horrible things I didn’t do.”

  “Yeah, I can see how it’s both.” He nods. “As for your voice—it really is something else. Kind of mind-blowing. I have to tell you, when you first explained to me that night how you sang and landed the shuttle, I did not believe you. I just couldn’t. To my mind, it made no sense. But now that I actually saw and heard you do it—just, wow.”

  I glance at him quickly, and the damned smile just does not want to leave my face.

  “I can only begin to imagine,” he continues, “the kind of things you can do with that voice of yours. Furthermore, with enough orichalcum at our disposal, we can do some groundbreaking major stuff—think about it, construction, engineering, technology, other industries. The applications here on Earth are limitless. The drilling industries alone—”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, think about it.” He lets go of my shoulder and turns to me, and his expression is intensely focused. “What if Earth had access to all this orichalcum voice tech? Assuming, of course, that the asteroid threat was no longer there?”

  “What? How can it be? I thought the asteroid is going to make impact regardless of what we do? Earth’s official expiration date is what, in November of next year?”

  “Yeah, of course it is. The dreaded November 18, 2048, at around 2:47 PM Eastern Time, plus or minus a few minutes, is when we go Boom.” He recites the now-famous date and time of anticipated impact in a dramatic tone then shakes his head tiredly. “What I meant was, what if these circumstances were different? What if we had all the time in the world, and all the means to make something of ourselves in this new world of shared Atlantis-Earth cooperation?”

  “I’m not sure it’s any good thinking of what-ifs,” I say. “It’s super depressing.”

  “You’re right.” And then he shrugs it off lightly. “I was kind of carried away by the amazing potential of your voice. Sorry if it made you uncomfortable or bummed you out.”

  “Thanks, and no, I’m fine.”

  His hand is back around my shoulder, and I feel a gentle squeeze on my upper arm. “Good, because the last thing I want you to do is be upset over stupid stuff, after the kind of day you’ve had.”

  “It’s not exactly over yet,” I mutter. “I still have to deal with him.”

  Logan pauses walking and turns and looks at me, bringing himself to stand before me. His dark eyes glitter with intensity, reflecting the fluorescent lamps of the brightly lit walkway on which we happen to be—it’s
a portion of the RQC compound just a building away from the Arena Commons Building, since we’re almost there.

  “Gwen, you only have to deal with him for a short period of time. Go in there, stay smart, keep cool and use your head. Do nothing to provoke him in any way. All you need is to survive Qualification. And for that you need this Atlantean’s special training. Whatever he teaches you—take it! Don’t think about anything else. Use him as a resource.”

  “You’re right,” I say in turn, and gaze up into his warm, bewitching hazel eyes.

  His chiseled lips curve upward. “Okay then, here’s the plan—first, we run a few laps before eight, then you go in and see him. . . .”

  I nod, unable to move away from him, from this incredible proximity and sensation of intimacy. And I think he kind of knows it. . . .

  Because he leans in closer to me, so that I can almost feel his breath washing over my lips as he finishes: “. . . And after you get back, I’ll be waiting for you.”

  Before I can say anything in reply, he suddenly closes the distance between us, puts his strong hand on my cheek and turns my head to the side slightly.

  I am already reeling a little from the impossible touch of his fingers on my skin.

  It’s then that Logan Sangre kisses me . . .

  On my mouth.

  Chapter 27

  Let me repeat that.

  On my mouth.

  I’ve just been kissed by Logan Sangre, full-on, lips against lips.

  I’ve been dreaming of this moment for the last three years. No, strike that—I’ve been unknowingly dreaming of this moment for as long as I can remember, since I first became conscious that there was such a thing as girls and boys and kisses, and that I was a girl and that somewhere out there was the one perfect boy for me. . . .

  Talk about uber-pathetic, I know. . . . The idea of the one perfect soul mate—whether it be girl, boy, or flying chipmunk—is right out of an old-fashioned romance novel (okay, maybe not the chipmunk part, unless he’s a shape-shifting paranormal chipmunk who turns into a sexy tattooed hunk when the moon is full—yeah, you can tell I’m babbling even in my thoughts). Honestly, I should know better. But I can still dream. . . .

  Furthermore, I’ve been dreaming of that one perfect boy seeing me and naturally falling in love with me at first sight. And then I visualized what it would be like to have that first magical kiss.

  And now, the impossible has come true. My first kiss happened with Logan Sangre, the perfect guy of my dreams.

  Okay, no, strike that again. This, just now, was my first real kiss.

  Because there was another awful stupid kiss in first grade, a kiss that doesn’t really count except in the technical sense. It happened when a bunch of class bullies gathered around me and another nerdy loser kid—the wimpiest, skinniest, shortest little boy in class, the one who had the huge glasses and the stick arms and whose name I don’t remember—and they chanted “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” as they crowded around us and pushed and shoved the two of us together until the poor boy reluctantly planted a sloppy fish-wet smooch on my mouth. I remember shoving him away immediately and then spitting in disgust, wiping his disgusting saliva from my lips while saying “Eeeew, gross!”

  That was my one and only “kiss” experience before the real thing just happened, seconds ago.

  Wow. . . .

  I had no idea that a boy’s lips could be so soft.

  Because his lips that are so beautiful and naturally well-shaped are also soft as a dream as they press against mine with gentle sensuality, sending all kinds of electrical impulses coursing down my body. . . . My lips are now the center of the universe—all feeling, all sensation and focus is there.

  Logan draws back, and his hazel eyes never look away. Meanwhile I exhale in wonder, and find that I am trembling.

  “What—what was that?” I say like a total fool, even as my lips still remain parted.

  He looks at me and then the faintest shadow smile comes to him. “I thought you might like a little support. . . . I felt like it—and like it was what you needed. I hope I didn’t screw up just now? Please let me know if I did!”

  “Oh, no!” I blink rapidly, and my lips are still ringing like silent bells from the touch of his against mine. “That was—that was good! Thank you! I mean, it was amazing, and it was—”

  “Gwen,” he says. “I really like you.”

  I stare, just dumbstruck.

  “And maybe I’m wrong,” he continues, “but I think there’s something there too on your end, something between us. I get the sense that you—”

  “Yes!” I say. “I do!”

  And then I realize how idiotic that sounds—it’s like I just said a formal marriage vow! And now he is probably going to be all disgusted and turned off by my needy clingy response. Oh lord, what have I done?

  But apparently I have nothing to worry about.

  “Oh, phew!” he says with a laugh, and makes a gesture of wiping fake sweat from his forehead. “Was worried you might not take it well. Or that you may not be interested.”

  “I—I really like you too! I’m just amazed you don’t already have a girlfriend or something.”

  He shrugs lightly. “I did. Back in St. Albans. She went to our school too, might have been in your class, even. But we broke up a while ago. It was just not working.”

  “Oh . . .” I say.

  “But, forget her, I want to get to know you.”

  “Okay.”

  “You’re not with anyone, are you?”

  I shake my head side to side negatively, like a giddy fool. Oh, if only he knew!

  We resume walking, and Logan’s hand slips into mine.

  It feels like lightning has struck me, and it’s coursing back and forth between us, in the spot where our palms and fingers touch. . . .

  I am not exactly sure what happens for the next fifteen minutes. It’s all kind of a crazy happy blur. We get to the Arena Commons Building. . . . We run around the track, and we laugh as he pulls me by my hand at some point when I begin to collapse.

  I end up in stitches, gasping from running and laughing at I don’t know what, while he grins and tells me silly funny things as we again race each other.

  And then it’s almost eight o’clock.

  “Ugh,” I say, with a glance up at the fifth level walkway of the stadium arena, “I have to go.”

  He nods. “Go. I’ll be here.”

  “Are you sure? It might take a while.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure.” There’s a determined light in his eyes that makes my heart warm.

  And so I leave him at the track and head upstairs to Office 512 and my grim fate.

  When I reach the upper walkway and knock on the office door, I am worn out from having just run laps. It’s actually good that I am almost too tired to care what Aeson Kass will think or expect of me, because I am still riding the emotional high from hanging out with Logan.

  And yet . . . my pulse goes erratic, begins to sound once again in my temples, this time from nerves as opposed to exertion. But my agitation is relatively dull and not as bad as it could be.

  Yeah, it really has been a very long day.

  No one answers the door, but the light inside is on, visible through the shades. Once again I simply turn the handle and enter.

  This time the office is lit up brightly, but although the various consoles and surveillance screens are live, there’s no one at the computer area. I look around and there’s Blayne Dubois on the sofa. He’s holding the familiar hoverboard, while his wheelchair has been moved neatly out of the way against the wall.

  Okay, I wasn’t sure what to expect after today’s intense events, but it looks like our secret training arrangement with Blayne is still on. . . .

  “Hey.” I approach the sofa lounging area and take a seat next to him. “Where is he?”

  Blayne gives me a brief look. “He’s in the other room. Got some kind of important call, had to take it, said he’ll be back in a few.”

/>   “What other room?”

  Blayne points.

  I stare where he’s pointing and for the first time notice a very discreet doorway that almost looks like it’s a part of the wall, or maybe a utility closet near the end of the sofa.

  “Oh,” I say. “I didn’t notice that door. What is it?”

  “I’ve no idea. Probably more office space. Maybe it’s his private rooms.”

  “I see. . . . Interesting.”

  “Not really.” And Blayne turns away from me, flipping his hair out of his eyes.

  “Okay—did he say what we’re supposed to do until he gets back?”

  “No.”

  Well, this is going to be awkward.

  I sit, drumming my fingers against the sofa upholstery. Minutes pass.

  “I heard what happened today,” Blayne says suddenly. He is still not looking at me but staring at the surface of the hoverboard that he’s holding upright. “Is it true that you actually levitated a whole shuttle just with your singing?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How’d you do it?”

  “No idea. But, I’m hoping that he will explain it to me at some point. That is, if he ever shows up.”

  “That’s kind of mind-blowing.”

  “Yeah. . . .”

  Another long pause.

  Blayne stops fiddling with the hoverboard and glances at me. “Did you have anything to do with whoever blew up that other shuttle?”

  I frown at him. “No! Of course not! Do you seriously think I’d be involved in something awful like that? Jeez!”

  He shrugs. “Whatever. Just had to ask.”

  “Did Command Pilot Kass put you up to this?” I say with beginning irritation.

  “No, he didn’t have to. It’s just me asking. Not that I really think you did it. If you did, it would be completely unlike you.” And Blayne’s lips curve into the faintest smile.

  My mouth falls open. “Okay, what’s that supposed to mean?”