by S. E. Weir
Training. This is all training.
Phina had finished taking a shower and was about to dress for bed when she heard the door chime. The sudden noise startled her, causing her to jump to the side and yelp as the towel on her head fell onto her face.
“Hold on!” She grimaced as she finished drying off, quickly replacing the towels with her pajama shirt and pants.
Phina hadn’t checked to see who was outside, and she didn’t care at that moment. She intended to see what they wanted, followed by falling into her bed. The late-night spyscapades were cutting into her rest time, and she needed every hour she could get to maintain her mental shields.
As she tugged her shirt down to her waist, she called, “All right, Shade, you can let them in. Thank you.”
The door opened as she took a step toward it. She stopped when she saw Masha walking in. The beta agent lowered her gaze to Phina’s chest before giving her a smirk. “Nice.”
Phina wrinkled her nose and flicked her fingers at the words that declared, I’m too sexy for this shirt. “It was a boyfriend gift from Alina.”
Masha threw Phina a confused glance before taking a seat on the bed, which did not bode well for the brevity of the visit.
“Why would Alina give you a boyfriend gift? Wouldn’t that be Todd’s job?”
Seeing the woman was making herself comfortable, Phina decided Masha was nervous.
“It was more along the lines of a ‘Congratulations, you’ve finally gotten a boyfriend’ gift,” she responded dryly.
Masha let out a snicker before she could control herself. “Did you pay her back for it?”
Phina straightened in surprise. “Pay her back? What for?”
Masha grinned. “Oh, honey, let me tell you about St. Payback.”
After twenty minutes of hearing about pranks and antics, Phina still wasn’t sure what to say. Todd had mentioned St. Payback in passing, but the tradition was far more involved than she had realized. “So, you think I should follow Bethany Anne’s example and do something more over the top?”
“It’s up to you.” Masha leaned back on her hands and shrugged. “Just ask yourself, ‘what would BA do?’”
“I’ll put some thought into that.” Phina took a measure of the woman, who had relaxed while she had related her stories about shenanigans between Bethany Anne and her inner circle. “Something tells me that’s not why you came to visit, though.”
“No.” The beta agent pursed her lips. “I went to see Greyson earlier and asked him about your mission, and he explained a few things.”
Phina waited, but the older woman remained silent. “Were you going to tell me what he explained?”
“No, I was waiting for you to read it from my mind.” Masha’s tone was sharp.
“Ah.” Phina winced and raised a hand to rub the back of her neck uneasily.
Masha raised a hand to her forehead. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to use that tone. I think I’m more upset by everything going on than I realized.”
“It’s all right.” Phina appraised the other woman. “None of it is exactly easy to hear.”
“I still shouldn’t have blurted it out that way.”
Phina lifted a shoulder and smiled at Masha. “I’ve been living with all of this for months, and I still have a hard time wrapping my head around it. I don’t blame you for reacting.”
Masha studied the other woman. “Do you mean the mind-reading or the traitor?”
“Both.” Phina tilted her head in thought as she leaned her back against the wall. “I found out there was a problem with someone working behind the scenes in the Empire shortly before I began to develop any real ability. Since then, it’s been an almost nonstop ride.”
“Have you come to any conclusions about what you think is happening or who the traitor might be?” Masha asked.
“No conclusions,” Phina admitted. “I haven’t found enough evidence for that yet. I have plenty of speculation and suspicions, though.”
“It sounds like you could use some help,” Masha responded.
Phina perceived that they had finally arrived at the reason for her late-night visit. “The boss man turned you down, huh?”
Masha was startled. “How did you... Oh, right. You read my mind.”
Ignoring the mild irritation in her voice, Phina shook her head. “Just read your body language. I refrain from reading other people’s minds unless it’s necessary. When it first started happening, I didn’t have a lot of control and needed to experiment to figure things out. Now, unless something major or surprising happens, I can usually control it so my shields don’t slip.”
Masha raised her hands in apology. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up again.”
“It’s all right.” Phina shifted to gaze at the other woman directly. “It takes some getting used to. When I first developed the ability, it was just being able to speak into a few other people’s minds. That part wasn’t so bad and kind of fun. I never expected or asked for all of this.”
“Do you wish you hadn’t gotten these abilities?” Masha asked quietly.
Phina glanced down as she thought that over. “Part of me does. I will never be normal again, but sometimes I wish I could be. Sometimes I just want to be alone and not have the weight of everyone’s thoughts around me.”
She let out a sigh. “Then the rest of me takes over and reminds that part of myself that I can do things that not very many other people can. There’s that too often used quote about great powers coming with great responsibility. If I don’t help other people, whether I use my learned skills, special abilities, or just show up, I become part of the problem and not the solution. That’s not who my parents raised me to be. Throughout the stories, they told me that was a lesson they wanted to teach me.”
Phina straightened, pulling her shoulders back. “They taught me that every life is beautiful and worth living, and when that beautiful life is threatened, someone needs to step up to prevent it from being taken. I decided I would step up.”
Masha had been caught up in the explanation. She blinked in surprise at Phina’s determination. “Just like that?”
Nodding firmly, Phina folded her hands together and crossed her ankles. “Now it is. It took some time until I stopped feeling sorry for myself.”
“Hmm.” Masha studied Phina. “I think I understand more of what Greyson sees in you. He’s always been close-mouthed about you and why he chose you as his apprentice.”
She lifted a shoulder. “We’re family. Which is why I know he’s interested in you.”
Masha shifted uncomfortably and sighed. “I tried to see that today, but I just don’t see that in him. I am going to move on and put those feelings behind me.”
Phina opened her mouth to protest but clicked it shut. It wasn’t her place to argue about it, and Masha wouldn’t take her word for it. That wouldn’t keep her from prodding Link about the topic. She could just see him being all stoic and scowly.
She nodded. “I understand. Just keep an open mind until this assignment is done.”
“I’ll consider it.” Masha spoke crisply as if she wanted to put it behind her already. “Now, I came because I want to help.”
“Greyson already shot you down.”
Masha winced but nodded. “More or less. I didn’t push it, figuring I’d come straight to you since you are the one running the investigation.”
Phina leaned forward. “I’m fine with you helping since you have access to the ops center without garnering a lot of questions. Is it true that the diagnostics and communications capabilities are better there than in the rest of the base?”
“The base EI is the best at accessing those things, but as far as manual access, yes.”
“Great.” Phina clapped her hands together with a smile. “We have the makings of a plan. I’ll tell you what to search for, and you and Shade can deal with that while I finish going through the nightly scans. With any luck, this will be finished within a week. Two at most.”
Masha n
odded but held up a finger. “Just one thing.”
“Yes?”
“Who’s Shade?”
Phina had a feeling these last weeks would be long.
Gaitune-67, Spy Corps Headquarters and Base, Large Training Room
Phina ducked to dodge an imaginary strike and raised her short swords, swinging and blocking as she steadily advanced. Occasionally, she would side-flip or backflip as she continued to shadow-fight.
She tuned out the murmurs as she continued. What proved harder to ignore was the press of the minds that were focused on her as she trained. Her shields were strong, and Sundancer had helped her so they could become so.
The Previdian had been largely absent over the past few days, ever since Phina told him they needed to figure out something soon. Since his mental abilities were different from hers, he couldn’t help her read minds. That hadn’t stopped him from taking advantage of the fact that he could block other people’s thoughts about him to become invisible and spy on everyone.
They didn’t see him because they forgot he existed.
The catlike creature could be pretentious and had a disturbing fixation on fish and liver, but he was loyal and dedicated to helping her.
“Hey, Phina, when are you going to stop fake-fighting and fight a real opponent?”
She stopped mid-strike, her body leaning forward in a lunge with her swords extended. She decided to take a water break, although she was barely winded, even with all the movement. Her muscles felt limber and warm. She hadn’t had a real fight since she had arrived on the base.
“Cade, stop your bellyaching.” Savas spoke up with annoyance in his tone from ten feet away where he had been practicing on his own. “You just can’t stand the attention she gets.”
Phina’s gaze darted toward the entrance, where around twenty agents were spread out along the wall, almost all of them staring at her.
“What makes you think she’s getting all the attention?” Cade pressed. “They could be coming to see all the hot recruits.”
Kabaka sighed as Gina stopped their bout to listen. He wiped the sweat from his dark face as he spoke carefully. “Listen, man. You are looking for an ass-whooping at the rate you are going. It’s not going to go well for you.”
“An ass-whooping? From her?” Cade replied incredulously. “There’s no way that she can take me. Watch her. She can’t even look at me. She’s afraid to fight me because she knows I can take her.”
Gina spoke up scornfully. “You’re such a prick, Cade. You couldn’t fight your way out of a paper bag.”
Phina finished downing her water, but before she could respond, Jasper spoke up. “What if he’s right? We all know she did something to Blayk. It’s the only thing that makes sense. She’s been quiet since he left, likely because she feels guilty.”
The murmurs behind her increased, but Phina wasn’t paying attention to the agents anymore. Her gaze jumped to Jasper, who turned to her triumphantly as if he had accomplished something. It made her wish she had laser eyes. The way they throbbed, she felt like it could happen.
Jasper winced and grabbed his head, stumbling to the side. “What the hell?”
He fell into the tall and muscular form of Shaw, who had just walked into the room and come over. The agent scowled and shoved Jasper until he was upright, then stared at them. “What’s going on here?”
Phina stood gaping at Jasper, who continued to hold his head. Had she made that happen or was it a weirdly-timed coincidence?
She moved her gaze away as Cade’s snide voice registered.
“We were just talking about how Phina is a coward who doesn’t have the balls to fight a real man.”
Even though she wanted to see if whatever she’d done to Jasper could be replicated with Cade, Phina knew that would look suspicious. Instead, she straightened and gave Cade a knowing smirk. “I think you are projecting, Cade. I’m ready to fight anyone, any time. I’m sure if I find a real man, I’ll be ready to fight him, too.”
“You wouldn’t know a real man if he stared you in the face.” Cade scowled at Phina when the other trainees snickered. Jasper moaned and shook his head.
Shaw crossed his arms and gave them a hard stare. “That’s enough. You will both get the chance to fight during the competition, both singly and in pairs. If you want to fight, save it for when it matters.”
“When will it matter?” Savas challenged. “When is the competition going to happen? It’s been weeks.”
“Soon.” Shaw’s expression was unreadable. “I’m waiting until you are ready for it. Some of you are ready now.” He glanced at Felan and Phina. “And others are not.” He flicked his gaze to Ian and Cade. “But it will happen soon. That’s all I have to say on the matter.”
“Understood.” Balehn nodded.
“Suck-up,” a voice murmured on the other side of the group.
Phina decided she didn’t care to see who it was. She was very curious about what had happened with Jasper. Her gaze kept moving toward the man, who had calmed down and stood staring at Phina with fear and loathing on his face.
Fudging crumbs. This could be bad.
Gaitune-67, Spy Corps Headquarters and Base, Greyson Wells’ Office
Link sat back in his chair, cackling. “You’re telling me you mentally zapped that pretentious prick? Oh, that is just priceless!”
Phina leaned back in her chair across the desk from him with her arms crossed and scowled. “It’s not funny!”
As Link continued laughing, Phina’s face softened, and she admitted, “Okay, it was kind of funny.”
“Are you kidding?” Link gasped for breath. “I wish I had been able to see his face.”
Phina’s face hardened again and she hissed, “I still have no idea how it happened! What if I can’t control it and I end up hurting random people? What if it wasn’t me and it was someone else doing it?”
Link waved his hand dismissively as he got himself under control again. “Those are just details. I have no doubt you will be putting your head together with Sundancer to figure this out because that’s who you are. You have control of yourself and what you can do. I’m not worried. As for the possibility that someone else caused it, do you really think that, or do you just not want it to be you?”
Phina opened her mouth to respond but stopped. She answered ruefully, “I don’t want it to be me. I know it was. I could feel it after the initial shock wore off.”
“Well, there’s your answer, my dear.” Link spoke as kindly as he could, given that he still wanted to chortle about the effects of Phina’s new ability. “You just need to figure it out.”
“Yeah.” Phina had a glum note in her voice. “I’ve been doing a lot of that lately.”
Before Link could question her further, the door opened and Masha walked in, throwing his thoughts out of his head.
“I’m sorry it took a while to get here. We had a situation to deal with in ops.” She spoke breezily as she closed the distance and sat in the chair next to Phina.
Link opened his mouth—to say what, he wasn’t sure—when Masha’s nose wrinkled in repugnance.
“What is that smell?” She waved one hand in front of her face and reached for something in her pocket with the other. He sat there in confusion as she pulled out a tiny bottle and spritzed the contents around the room.
Wafts of something overwhelmingly citrusy with a hint of vanilla filled the air, causing Link’s mouth to curl. “What the hell was that for?”
“To get rid of that nasty butt stank smell you have going on in here,” Masha replied.
Link stared at the woman in disbelief and sputtered, “I don’t have a butt stank smell in here!”
“Not anymore.” She smiled beatifically, but the glint in her eyes dared him to keep going.
Link turned to Phina for support, but she shrugged. “I dialed down my senses when I came in so I didn’t smell it anymore, but it smelled rank. You must have eaten the enchiladas they served for dinner last night.”
/> “How did you...” He held up a hand. “No, don’t answer that. It was probably something along the lines of that I always get Mexican when they serve it, which I do.”
Phina shrugged and sat back comfortably. “Yes, you do.”
“How long have you been using that trick to affect your senses like that?” Link demanded.
She tapped her chin with a finger. “About as long as they’ve been serving Mexican on Thursdays.”
Link scowled and turned to Masha. “I suppose that’s how long you’ve been carrying around your Eau de l’Orange, there?”
“It’s great being able to have access to more tree fruits, isn’t it?” Masha beamed, though she had an edge to her voice. What was going on with her?
“This conversation got away from me somewhere,” Link muttered. “What were we talking about again?”
“The pretentious prick,” Phina supplied helpfully.
Link snickered. “Right. As far as I’m concerned, he had that coming. The EI...” He stopped when Phina coughed pointedly. Link stared at the young woman, who raised her eyebrows at him. Not backing down an inch, that one. He supposed she couldn’t help it and came by it naturally, given her genetics.
He sighed and continued, “Shade has documented every time he’s spoken badly about you, kid. It’s not good. Even if he got outstanding marks in his evaluations, I’m not sure he’s the kind of person we want here.”
“Well, you have some tools and perverts here, so maybe pricks would fit right in.” Phina pressed her lips together as if she wanted to take the words back.
“Perverts?” Link scowled. “What kind are we talking about here? The harassing kind, the Blayk kind, or the mutually agreed on with their sig-o kind?”
“Sig-o?” Phina raised an eyebrow skeptically.
“Significant other,” Link supplied. He continued defensively when she continued to stare, “What? It’s a real term. All the cool kids are using it.”
“I think you made it up,” Phina argued.
“What does it matter?” Masha broke in impatiently. “I want to know why you want to categorize the types of perverts we potentially have.”
“Why does it matter to you?” Link dug his heels in to poke at her. She had been cool with him since their last meeting, and he didn’t like it. “Do you have a preference on perverts?”
