Conjured Defense (Terra Chronicles Book 4)

by J. C. Jackson

  Silver looked over my shoulder. “No. No more tests. You have no idea how difficult it was to pull her out of the system.” He sounded angry.

  “Hey, let’s all calm down and we’ll review what happened before deciding anything,” Jonim jumped in.

  “Can you give us a few minutes?” Silver shot at them.

  “What? How can you…?” Jake started.

  “Let’s go,” Jonim said. Shortly after I heard the door open and then close several seconds later.

  My partner held my head so I stayed looking at him. “It’s just us. It’s okay. I’m sorry I kissed you against your will, but I couldn’t pull you back without a stronger connection.”

  I let out a shuddering breath. I needed to process everything, but I felt a lingering effect on my lips still. I could not hold the flood of tears back any longer.

  Silver pulled me from the chair and we sat together on the floor. I had no idea how long we were there before I calmed down enough to talk.

  “Ketayl, talk to me. What happened?”

  “I couldn’t ease in. I held my power in as much as possible and… I was stuck. I couldn’t find a way out. I didn’t want to stay.”

  “They said you immediately synced to the system at about 95 percent. Could you hear us?”

  I shook my head. “Heard a voice, but no words. I thought I heard my name, but it was so faint.”

  “Who’d it sound like?”

  Who? I had not paid attention at the time. Closing my eyes, I recalled the voice. Male, familiar. “You,” I answered.

  His arms tightened around me and he stuck his nose in my hair. Normally I would gripe at him for his actions, but I was still too shaken to push away the comfort.

  Silver’s phone rang. I moved away from him so he could stand up and get it out of his pocket. “Blaise,” he answered, walking away.

  I shakily got to my feet and dug for a fresh pair of gloves. Suddenly Silver’s hand appeared over mine and he shook his head.

  Once I pulled my hands away, he moved back to the other side of the room. “Yes, ma’am. You’ll have my full report as soon as I have a chance to write it.”

  I sat on the floor near our bags, still unstable. I guessed by the snippet of conversation I heard he spoke with Lockonis. Her timing was all too good.

  Pulling my knees to my chest, I buried my face.

  “I’ve got to go,” Silver said as I heard his footsteps coming back my way. I looked up in time to see him pull the phone away from his head and end the call. He knelt down in front of me. “No more today, okay?”

  I nodded. I could not think straight to argue with him.

  “Does the system still have some sort of hold on you?”

  I shook my head. The connection I had the last time was absent. “Maybe more to do with whatever you did.”

  “Speaking of, did you really have to slap me that hard?”

  The heat rose in my cheeks and I buried my face again. “Sorry. I reacted. Didn’t know what was going on.”

  “Fair enough.” Silver reached into his gear bag and pulled out his tablet. “Do you think you’d be up for a video call? Lockonis called me in a panic because somehow she saw your heart rate shoot up too high.”

  I stared at my watch. “I didn’t know it sent that information.”

  “It reads your heart rate?”

  “And other things - I haven’t gotten a chance to go through the information it came with.” I rubbed my eyes. Now I felt exhausted, but there was still so much to do.

  “Does this mean we’re courting now?” Silver gave me a lopsided grin.

  I rolled my eyes. He was impossible.

  My partner sat down next to me and started up the call.

  “What in the Hells happened?” Lockonis demanded as soon as the call connected.

  “We were asked to test the system,” Silver said. I hoped he planned to do most of the talking.

  Lockonis folded her arms and frowned. “Please tell me you took precautions and didn’t just jump in.”

  “We’ve gone over the system and the reports from previous tests. I went first,” Silver said.

  “Not completely,” I said quietly.

  Lockonis turned her attention to me. “Explain before you give me a reason to fly down there.”

  Silver and I looked at each other for a moment. “I… I accidentally activated the system for a brief moment yesterday when my hand brushed one of the grips on the offense station. I didn’t know it was active.”

  “As in fully activated it?” Lockonis asked.

  “Yes,” Silver said quickly. He could have control of the conversation. “I snapped her out of it after a few seconds.”

  “Now you really have to explain. Because I got no notice of anything out of the ordinary yesterday and today her heart rate was through the roof.”

  Silver sighed. “When I tested it, I hit resistance and couldn’t get it fully activated. Same as every other caster. Ketayl immediately syncs with the system just by touching the grips.”

  I hugged my knees tighter to hide my shaking at the memory of being stuck.

  “Ket, what happened in there?”

  I shook thinking about it. “I couldn’t get out. I could see outside. Hear the ocean. But I couldn’t find a way back out.”

  Silver took over, “She could hear me, but not enough to make out what I was saying.”

  “Hm.” Lockonis sat back in her chair. “On the off-chance you decide to toy with the system again, you might want to consider using a keyword. Something Ket knows to listen for and can follow. Granted, I’ll be interested to read your report about how you got her out this time.”

  “It’s not necessarily an option we should rely on.” Silver rubbed his cheek again.

  I felt awful about blindly slapping him. I wished he had found a different way other than kissing me. I had been better off not knowing what that was like.

  “Alright, keep me posted. And Ket,” Lockonis said, waiting until I looked up at the tablet’s screen, “Don't go diving into unknown systems for a bit.” Then she cut the connection.

  Silver put his tablet aside and turned back to me. “What is it?”

  “Why’d you have to do that?”

  “Do what?”

  I hid my face again. “How you pulled me from the system.”

  Silver let out a long sigh. “I could sense you holding on to the anchor I created, but I was struggling to pull you back. Too much more and I would have lost you again. Creating a stronger connection through a more intimate act was a gamble I had to take.”

  I made a noise of acknowledgment which was muffled because I still had my face hidden.

  “Ketayl, we’re both Elves. This isn’t something uncommon between friends, okay?”

  I nodded, refusing to lift my head.

  “How about I take you back to the hotel? I think you’ve had enough today.”

  My head shot up. “No!” As embarrassed as I was, being separated was worse.

  “Alright, let me go talk to the two outside and see if we can’t work in peace for a bit. I expect you to be sitting in this exact spot when I get back.”

  I glared at him and then stuck my tongue out at his back. Childish? Perhaps, but I could deal with overprotective big brother mode over what just happened.

  Chapter 10

  Silver wanted to keep working and I refused to go back to the hotel. In compromise, I sat to the side and read through the plans, directing him. We managed to get through the defense station’s wiring in the room, but the source of the problem remained outside of the control room.

  Now we were following the camera network back from the burned out screen, but Silver had lost track of it. Suddenly my partner jumped, putting his hands and feet on the sides of the ladder and slid down.

  “I can't find where it came from,” he said, tugging on his braid.

  “We should dust for prints before coming back at it. I’ll get the pictures you took uploaded to the case file.”

&
nbsp; “We can do it after supper.”

  “I’m not hungry.” My appetite would likely be gone for a while still. I could not shake the last of the fear from having been stuck.

  Silver stood over me with his arms folded. “You need to eat. And more importantly, we need to talk about what happened.”

  “I’d rather not.” I fought down the heat rising to my face.

  “You know Jake is going to pester you endlessly until you submit a report and it’ll help to talk it over.”

  Maybe I assumed too much. He had a point about Jake looking for a report, but I did not want to talk about my loss of emotional control. “I can draft up something tonight.”

  “No, you’re sleeping tonight. All night.”

  I sighed. “Must you get this way?”

  “If it means making sure you take care of yourself, then yes.”

  I rolled my eyes and returned to reading over the plans. The issues with the defense station continued outside of the room. It appeared to be a section the offense station also went to. Possibly whatever it was they were using as an amplifier?

  Was there a way to reach it from another room? I would need to get the layout for the ship and hope someone else held the plans for the wiring. Why were these so incomplete?

  The plans disappeared from in front of me. I glared up at Silver.

  “You’re done for right now. I know you have something, but it can wait.” He knelt down in front of me. I backed away from his reaching hand. “I’m worried about how what happened might be affecting you. Just take this breather to regroup and we’ll come back at it for a little longer.”

  I could fight him, but he could easily pick me up. “Fine.”

  Leaving the ship, our escorts drove us back to our vehicle. They would not leave the base with us.

  Jonim caught up with us before we left. “Glad I caught you. You two done for the night?”

  “No,” Silver answered. “Just taking a break for supper.”

  The Dwarf folded his arms and looked up at each of us. “Given what happened today, I’d recommend taking the rest of the night off. Enjoy some of Sandpoint’s food and entertainment. I can recommend you a place. Good food, live music, and sometimes a few interesting stories depending on who you talk to.”

  I shrugged to Silver. It seemed like Jonim wanted to tell us something.

  “We’re open to suggestions,” my partner said.

  “It’s a place called ‘Watered Down’ though trust me, their drinks are anything but. The name helps keep it to mostly the locals. You folks have a navigation system or you need me to get you directions?”

  “We can find it,” I said. “Thank you.”

  Jonim gave us a salute and left.

  I waited until we got off the base before I said, “Did it seem like he wanted to tell us something?”

  “Might be why he gave us a recommendation to this place. Hope it’s not a set up.”

  I shrugged. Only time would tell. “He’d be risking his career if it was.”

  “Sounded like telling us to go to this place is already risking his career.”

  “He’s been the one to reign in Jake,” I pointed out.

  “True.” Silver flicked the tail of his braid back and forth with his free hand. “I can’t decide if Jake’s behavior is a lack of experience as a weapons developer or something else entirely.”

  Now I was the one who was falling behind. “What do you mean?”

  “He seems to forget things a lot. Very important things like his promise the system would work for any caster.”

  “Thanks for not telling them what I am.” It had been the one relief within the mess.

  “I figured you’d share it if you were comfortable. It’s nothing to be ashamed of though.”

  I stared at my hands on my lap. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Ketayl…” Silver sighed. “Every time the subject comes up, you’re always hesitant to admit you’re an Arcanist. You still do it with me on occasion.”

  I let out a shuddering breath, turning my gaze out the window, hoping this awkward conversation would end. He still seemed to not understand the problems I dealt with.

  Rough fingers reached under my hair to rub the back of my neck. We were off-base with no one else to witness it so I relaxed in the seat and let him.

  What bothered me still was we were no closer to the answer we were sent here for. Soon enough they would be demanding an answer.

  “We should figure out a keyword,” Silver suggested.

  I blinked and sat up, confused by the topic of conversation. “A what?”

  “A keyword, like Lockonis said. In case you accidentally touch the controls. I really don’t want to get slapped again.”

  My face heated up at the reminder. I turned to look out my window. “I don’t know. I barely could make out my name - I’m not sure what would come through stronger.”

  “Something unique to you.”

  “My name is.”

  Silver sighed. “A lot of people also use it or a variation of it. You didn't hear the other two when they used it.”

  “What do you suggest then?”

  “Something unique to both of us?” He sounded hesitant to voice his suggestion.

  His answer was not the one I was looking for. “What would be unique to both of us?”

  “Could be something new. We could come up with something to use beyond this.”

  “For what?” Silver had my curiosity piqued - he must have some plan in mind.

  Silver tugged on his braid as if he was nervous. The movement confused me. “I don’t know. How about your name?”

  “We just went over that - you said too many people use it.” Could he make up his mind?

  He let out a long sigh. “I meant what your name should have been.”

  “No,” I said firmly.

  “At least think about it,” Silver said quickly. “It’s unique to you and it could be to us.”

  “I don’t know…” There was too much pain tied to that name.

  A mischievous grin graced my partner’s face. “I mean, I could just make up a nickname for you.”

  “No, I know your naming schemes. Let me think about it, okay?” He could be almost as strange as Ted with what he called things. I remembered catching him having referred to a pair of daggers we collected for evidence once as “Stabby” and “Stabber”.

  Silver grinned, but never took his eyes off of the road. I should not have said I would entertain the idea. Now he would be relentless.

  We remained silent as he turned into the parking lot for the restaurant. Watered Down seemed like a respectable place at least from the outside.

  “Ketayl.” Silver stopped me before I got out. He pointed at my leg.

  The holster. I forgot I still wore it.

  “Just take it off and put it in your bag.”

  I nodded and tucked the whole holster in my bag.

  It was rowdy inside. And crowded, though most were around the small stage cheering on whoever was singing.

  Silver grabbed my hand after a minute and tugged me along as he followed someone to a booth along the windows and to the opposite side of the restaurant from the stage.

  At least it might be quieter. I hoped I could convince Silver to talk more about how isolated the issue with the camera network was. I really did not want to climb up there again.

  No, I needed to let Sparky take over by analyzing the images Silver took. Likely we would hear from him tomorrow. I should find the shielding. I thought it would have been installed throughout the whole system, but perhaps not with the prototype.

  Not as if Jake’s plans included it.

  “Ketayl, give it a rest already,” Silver said and dangled a menu in front of my face.

  I glared at him and took it.

  “Given it much thought yet?”

  “Huh?” I had just opened the menu in my hands. He had not given me a chance to read it let alone think about what I wanted.<
br />
  “About using your name.”

  Was he back on that already? “No. I’ve had other things to think about.”

  He reached over and rubbed my wrist. “And I want you to stop for now. We’ll talk about what happened during the test when we get back to the hotel, but I want to get a plan in place in case you get stuck in the system again.”

  A small part of me whispered he created something unique to both of us. I shoved it back. It was not a viable solution.

  “You okay?” Silver put the back of his exposed fingers against my forehead.

  I swatted him away. “Yes, let me figure out what I want.”

  He let the conversation fall there until after the server took our order. “You sure you’re okay? You got a bit flushed there for a minute.”

  “I am. Drop it.”

  A mischievous grin crossed his face. “Oh, I know what you were thinking about now. Don’t tell me that was your first kiss.”

  “Back off,” I ground out at him to hide my embarrassment.

  “Well, let me just say that it was a honor and privilege to be your first.”

  “I’ll slap you again if you keep this up.”

  He stroked the small patch of hair on his chin. “Would it be worth it?”

  I glared at him for a moment, wondering what on Terra had gotten into him. Folding my arms across my chest, I decided to stare out the window. He was so childish sometimes.

  He laughed and I refused to look at him. “Alright. Alright. I get it. You’ve been through Hells of a day again. Though I’m sure you would’ve preferred it be under better circumstances.”

  “Or not at all,” I muttered. Something occurred to me. “How much of the effect of the system did you get by doing that?”

  Silver stopped and stared at me. “Nothing because I kept myself anchored, why?”

  “Are you sure because it might explain your current behavior.”

  “Nope, this is just me.” Silver grinned broadly.

  I rolled my eyes and returned to looking out the window. I still thought my theory held.

  “Is the system actually operational?”

  His question brought me back to the present. “I didn’t try to use it. It might be, but I don’t think it’ll amplify the way they planned.”