Lena sighed and moved back against the wall behind her. She might get used to the idea that she was the only powered female in the school. She didn’t think she’d get used to the looks. After her talk with Erwin, she understood their fascination better. She cast her gaze downward so as to not encourage either of the men.
“Guardian Wils. Agent Prentiss,” Thomas greeted them, his voice dry. “Going up?”
“We are.” The agent recovered first.
She still had the sense that Reyes would be unimpressed with his lack of self-control.
“We’re joining Guardians Schroeder and Erwin for dinner on the Quad,” the guardian told Thomas. Lena could feel his attention on her. “Perhaps the two of you could join us? I can’t be the only one eager to meet our newest student.”
Thomas cleared his throat. The sound was almost an apology. “Of course. Wils, Prentiss, this is Lena Gracey. Lena, one of our talented teachers and his prize student from several years ago.”
She gave the men a weak smile before looking down again.
“She’s shy,” Wils purred. “How charming. Perhaps after dinner she’ll be more comfortable with us.”
She didn’t think she had ever wanted to punch a man in the crotch as much as she did right then.
“I’m afraid we have to decline your invitation, Wils. We’re having a working dinner.” Thomas gave the Guardian another of his bland smiles.
“Oh, come on. The three of you can’t keep her to yourselves indefinitely. It’s not fair.” The man was smart enough to keep his voice jovial, but it didn’t matter.
Lena had looked up in surprise at his words and caught Thomas’s reaction. The bland smile had shifted in some infinitesimal way to become dangerous. His eyes tightened barely perceptively, but she was glad the feral glint in the pale blue depths was not directed at her.
Had she believed he and Reyes had nothing in common?
The younger agent nodded. “But of course we understand the need for a working dinner. There are never enough hours in the day, are there?” He looked at her. “Perhaps another time?”
The elevator slowed, saving her from answering. Thomas ushered the men out ahead of them. They exited into another bare lobby with a set of heavy doors to one side. Thomas held out a hand at his side, pausing her progress. The two men preceded them, the Guardian’s shoulders set and angry. As the door swung to close behind them, Prentiss looked back. He wasn’t looking at her physically, but inspected her aura. The lascivious heat in his stare made it a violation.
Once she and Thomas were alone again, she let out the breath she wasn’t aware she’d been holding. They spoke at the same time.
“Perhaps this wasn’t such a good idea.”
“What was that all about?”
She waited for him to answer her question.
He rubbed his nose. “Erwin explained the basics of our life spans?”
“Yeah, he did. And I understand, awesome, you guys live a long time and get lonely. But there are women here. I’ve seen them. Those two looked at me like they hadn’t had a warm body in their beds in…ever. They’re not the only ones. And really, I’m just not that beautiful.”
“It’s complicated,” Thomas said. “It’s not the life span alone. There are other biological adaptations at play. But to explain them…. I don’t know how experienced you are in certain areas.” He avoided her gaze. “I don’t want to offend you.”
Lena wanted to laugh. She would have if she wasn’t so sick of being ogled by everything attached to a penis. Here in the Ward School, there were a lot of them. “Let’s say I’m experienced enough. Please explain.”
His face moved from side to side as he thought about how he wanted to phrase it. “So, look, your parents. She was a Spark and he wasn’t. Did you never notice how powered men reacted to your mother, Lena? Or how they treated your father for having the audacity to be with her?”
She stared at the man for a moment. Male Sparks came on to her mother? What the Dust was he getting at? “I…no. I stayed inside. I never saw them interact with anyone.”
He nodded in resignation. “Right.” Thomas took a deep breath and shrugged. He looked at her now, his voice strong and direct. “And have you never been with a Spark yourself?”
“What does this have to do with anything?”
“Have you?”
“No, not—no.” She crossed her arms and refused to think about Jackson. “I’ve avoided other Sparks like the plague. I couldn’t risk being with someone who could recognize how strong I am.”
“Okay.” He nodded, licked his lips, and muttered to himself, “How did I get stuck with this conversation?”
She waited. Her brows were raised, and her amusement at his discomfort twitched her lips upward.
He looked up at her, his own lips curved into a wry smile. “Don’t laugh,” he ordered her. “It’s not funny. Look, it’s like this. The Dust, the nanobots, they react to each other, a certain electric or magnetic pull. And they react also to those who can use them. We—” he gestured between the two of them “—and all of us, we have more Dust in, on, and around us than the unpowered. They prefer us. And the attraction grows with the Spark’s power.”
“Okay. Got it.”
“And there are certain involuntary…discharges…that occur during times of heightened arousal.”
“Right.” She remembered how the Dust pooled within her in the safe house with Reyes. It had seemed drawn to where their bodies touched. Later, she’d definitely felt the involuntary discharges sparking and flaring when Jackson kissed her, and the frenetic reaction of the Dust when Reyes interrupted, as if it remembered him. That sensation got more intense?
“So, if you ever noticed or if anyone ever told you—”
“I got it,” Lena said.
He moved his hands up in a gesture to appease her. “Okay. So, when you’re with another Spark, it is more pleasurable. And the intensity of the experience grows with the power of the…participants. Significantly.” The emphasis he put on the final word caused her brows to raise nearly to her hairline.
“So…what you’re saying is, every single man I walk past in this place who gets a peek at my aura starts drooling and wondering if being with me would be a brains-on-the-wall final moment of glory?”
Was that why Jackson couldn’t resist her advances? Not because he wanted her, but because of …nanites? Had she been that wrong? Lena felt a wash of confusion as strong as nausea. No wonder he’d volunteered to go out on field maneuvers.
Thomas winced. “Yes…”
“Yes? But? Am I wrong?”
“Yes. You’re not wrong. But look, it’s more than the physical response. Although there’s never been a woman like you, so that response isn’t insignificant.” His eyes were narrowed now, and he spoke rapidly and forcefully. Was this a favorite subject? “The things that you are capable of, the promise of what you can bring to us as a whole, and yes, perhaps, to one individual. If you choose well, your children will be powerful beyond—well, that’s the draw. It’s…you’re the ideal. You’re the…great… tantalizing…possibility.”
“I see.” She did see. But she wasn’t sure what to make of it. “So we’re all slaves to the Dust we carry? Like, uber-Spark pheromones or something? Funny. Reyes doesn’t seem all that affected.”
He made a face. “Alex has more discipline than any ten men put together. He feels it. We all feel it. It’s a matter of control.”
She nodded. Control. That she understood.
“Thank you, Thomas, for being honest with me. It helps to know what’s behind all of….” She waved her hand at the elevator, referring to what had just gone down with the guardian and the agent. It also explained Jackson’s battle. She sighed. The confusion settled in her chest, heavy. Why couldn’t someone have told her all of this before she’d fallen for one of them?
Oh. Really? Just one of them?
“You’re welcome. Now…I promised you fresh air with your dinner.” He clapped his
hands together and opened the heavy door for her, evidently happy to have the conversation behind them.
After a short trip through more corridors, they passed through a locked security entry. Thomas keyed it and ushered her through ahead of him.
Sunlight flowed through the opening to spill at her feet. She scooted into a wide atrium. The main entry from the outside world opened across the room. Access to the rest of the area was blocked by a wide console running the width of the space that was manned by a pair of serious-faced young men. The back wall was glass, through which sunlight poured in. On the other side of the windows, a sheltered courtyard and garden stretched away from the rear of the building.
She tilted her head back to feel the sunlight on her face. You didn’t realize how much you could miss that warmth until you spent a few weeks without it. She sighed happily and looked around again. They would be eating outside, he’d said. In the back garden?
One of the young agents guarding the entry left his post and approached. Thomas held up his hand, curtailing any salute. The guard opened the doors for the two of them. Lena stepped out into paradise, and everything else receded.
Benched tables were set at intervals around a wide stone patio. Most were occupied. Heads turned as they entered. She didn’t care. Let them get an eyeful. She stared out at the grounds beyond the patio.
Paths led away from the patio to wind through tall, soft, pale grass waving in a summer breeze. Bushes and cacti were beginning to bloom. Mature mesquites, gnarled and bent, reached to the sky. Out at the end of the garden was a nothingness that spoke of a cliff edge. Beyond it, the desperate brown and red of the desert she loved stretched far below. Craggy, rocky desolation for miles, and then the jutting dark hulk of mountains rose in the distance. It was gorgeous.
She leaned her head back again. Eyes closed, she let the warm desert breeze brush over her skin. She could smell moisture, ozone, and dirt in the wind. She opened her eyes and looked out across the wide open land to the mountains. “Rain is coming.”
Thomas tapped her arm and pointed past her. She looked at the sky beyond his fingers. Dark clouds smudged down to earth in a purple curtain. If anyone ever found a cure for drama of the heart, she’d bet it would include warm sunshine and the smell of rain in the desert.
She turned back to him with a wide smile. “I could smell it. I’ve missed that smell.”
He nodded, serious-eyed and quiet. “It is intoxicating.” He glanced around, as if aware of the curious, measuring looks from every table.
She was used to them.
He tilted his head to the side in a way that reminded her of Reyes. “Our food’s here.”
She looked where he indicated and noticed a young woman from the kitchens unloading covered plates and cups from a cart. She crossed to the table behind him and sat, smiling at the girl. “What are we having?”
“Well, I hope you don’t mind, but before he left, I asked Jackson what your favorite meal was. He said breakfast.”
The young woman pulled back the cover from the plate before Lena.
It was pancakes, with thick-cut bacon and shiny rounds of sausage surrounding a small bowl. Lena dipped her finger and brought it to her mouth. “Maple syrup! And it’s warm. They never put maple syrup out at dinner.” Jackson might be gone on maneuvers, but he’d still managed to send her a gift. She flashed Thomas a wide, happy smile before turning to thank the girl who’d trundled it all up from the kitchen.
“Right.” Thomas sat, glancing around at the rapt faces around them. “Well, clearly we’ll have to rectify that.”
16
When Reyes came for Lena in the morning, she was up and almost ready. Last night, Thomas had warned her that she’d have a full day of lessons, both as student and instructor. She’d already eaten her second round of breakfast in twelve hours. When Alex knocked and entered, she rose from her chair. He stood inside the door as she bent to tug on her boots.
“Did you enjoy dinner last night?” He kept his voice bland.
She straightened up. Yes, he was amused. He’d already been to see Thomas.
She marched up to him, planted her hands on her hips, and tilted her head back. “You could have told me, Reyes.”
His lips twitched, and his eyes sparked with humor, but he mostly managed to keep from laughing. “First, enough with this ‘Reyes’ garbage. If you can call Jackson by his name, you can use mine. Second…” He paused, clearly trying a little harder not to laugh. “That is not the kind of thing you’d have wanted to hear from me of all people.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes. It is right.” He was laughing. “Pretty sure the last thing you want to hear from the guy who ruined your life is that you’re irresistible.”
“Irresistible.” Lena crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. “Ha. I remember you resisting just fine when you thought I was propositioning you back in the safe house. And you could have mentioned it then. Or when I started glowing and we were discussing my power.”
The smile faded from his face. He cocked his head. “My ribs were broken. And I could not have mentioned it then. That glow was almost my undoing.”
She pulled away a little at the intensity in his face. Her breath caught.
Then Reyes blinked, and it was gone. He tilted his head back and smiled again. “We never did find out what caused that, did we?” The question was light. “Remind me to ask Sam if he knows.”
She reminded herself to breathe. “Sam?”
She was willing to be distracted. She had managed to convince herself that Reyes was nothing more than the weapon he’d made of himself. She was pretty sure it wasn’t safe to do otherwise.
“Mm hm. That’s who we’re going to see. If you’re ready?”
As Lena preceded him out the door, she could have sworn he made a small sound of frustration, or perhaps relief. When she turned back to him in the hallway, he was all business. He led her back the way she’d gone with Thomas the night before, making light conversation the whole way, telling her about the repairs to the damage she’d caused to the Council building and the ongoing search for her in and around Azcon.
They crossed into the atrium again, and the sunlight dazzled her. She looked longingly out at the garden, but Reyes…Alex…crossed the atrium lobby and through a locked entry point into a corridor behind it.
The corridor here was unlike any other in the fort. Thick, wall-to-wall carpeting stretched from one end of the floor to the other. The air felt cool and dry, unlike the humid underground air pumped through the main complex. The lights were recessed into the ceiling.
“What is this place?” She didn’t know why she whispered, but it seemed appropriate in the hushed atmosphere of the hallway.
“Well, officially it doesn’t exist anymore. If it is ever spoken of, it’s remembered as Barracks Hall 13. The guys who lived here—” Alex made a little shrug and smiled “—they called it Sunny Acres.”
She frowned. “Sunny Acres?”
Alex nodded. He gestured her forward with his head and padded down five paired doorways to one on the left. Once she joined him, he put his hand on the knob. He didn’t turn it. He stared down at her for a moment as if trying to gain some measure of her. Finally, he gave her a bemused smile.
“You’re about to meet Sam.”
She nodded. “Yes. Sam. Who is…?”
“Sam’s a friend of mine. He was one of my teachers. Later, he became…let’s call him a mentor.” He took a deep breath and laughed softly. Was he laughing at himself? “He was a light to a boy who didn’t think light existed anymore. He was a light to a lot of boys.”
She felt her brows rising. “Wait. You were a boy once? You had a friend?”
He rolled his eyes. “Cute. You’ll see. Sam is going to blow your mind.”
The room was hushed and comfortable like the hallway. Quiet, humming machines clustered around an empty bed. The wall closest to them was lined floor to ceiling with shelves bursting with books. The v
iew directly across from them, however, captured her attention.
It was a garden. Or at least, it had been painted to look like one. A tree painted into the corner leaned out over the rest of the scene, sheltering it with thin, arching branches covered in pale green leaves. Grass moved out away from the wall, and hedges of flowers appeared to bloom as far as the eye could see. Birds seemed to hover, captured in mid-flight.
An ancient man hunched in a wheeled chair facing the wall. He stared out. His scalp shone through thin wisps of white hair, pale skin mottled with age spots like craters on the surface of the moon. His hunched back bent him forward, and his body bobbed with constant movement. Even his hands, misshapen fingers curled upon themselves, moved on the arms of the wheelchair, silent tap and then retreat. Tap. Retreat.
She felt her breath catching in her throat. She remembered Erwin’s quiet voice the day before. The oldest of them began dying sixty years ago. The oldest of them began dying. What about the youngest?
Alex moved across to him. “Sam?”
In his quiet voice, she detected respect and affection.
“Who’s there?” The old man’s head came up and turned very slightly. His voice was strong, if a little breathy. “Is that you, Alex? Come around where I can see you.”
He moved around the wheelchair to squat in front of it and smile up. “Hi, Sam.”
“Hello, Alex. It’s been awhile. I’ve missed you. Missed our talks.”
Lena stepped forward and came around the wheelchair. She met his eyes, shiny and keen like a bird’s. His body might be failing, but his mind remained bright and sharp. She sensed intelligence there, and humor, and a wonderful, comforting sense of humanity.
“Alex. You brought me a guest?”
He nodded. “This is Lena. Lena, this is Sam.”
She leaned forward to touch the back of Sam’s left hand where it tapped upon and retreated from the wheelchair arm closest to her. She held it for a moment. “Hello, Sam.”
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