A.I.R. Shattered Soul

by Amanda Booloodian

  “Possible,” Vincent said. “They could have expected the pixie to jump off as soon as they left.”

  “Brave pixie,” Logan said.

  “Your grandmother is something else,” Vincent said. “Things would have been a lot worse if not for her and a lot better if I had listened to you.”

  We looked at the barn. Flames covered half and smoke billowed through the air. It looked like it wasn't going to last much longer.

  “We lost a lot of evidence in there,” I said.

  “We all got out,” Logan said, “and that's the most important thing. What's our next move?”

  “It's obvious that someone knew we were coming,” Vincent said.

  “It's also obvious they are keeping the Lost alive,” I added. My thoughts turned to the room streaked with blood and a tremor ran though me. “Maybe not under the best of circumstances, but alive.”

  “They couldn't have moved everyone too far. There are a lot of missing to account for. If the plan was to expose the Lost to the world, they would have done so by now,” Logan said.

  “Why would these people be gathering them together?” I asked. “If they're trying to sell them, why would they have so many together? Wouldn't they sell them off as they picked them up?”

  “We can guess they aren't studying them,” Vincent said, “unless you all found some medical equipment?” Logan and I shook our heads. “The people that did this aren't trying to help them in any way. People treat animals better than the Lost were treated here.”

  Logan balled his hands into fists and nodded. “What do you do with animals you are trying to break?” Logan asked.

  “These aren't animals, though,” I said.

  “What do you try to do to humans you are trying to break, then?” Logan's temper flared and the Path heated up around me to match the air of the burning barn.

  I didn't want to answer, but Vincent spoke up. “They are breaking them to control them before selling to the highest bidder.”

  I pressed my hands against my stomach. I didn't respond for fear that I would lose my breakfast. I could feel the storm of the Path around Logan, as he took a few steps away and pulled out his cell phone. I could hear him talking to Jonathan, making sure everything was okay at home.

  “Call everyone you can think of and tell them to be on alert,” Vincent said.

  I started making calls, starting with Gran. Gran agreed to call Morgan, and I contacted Rider and Travis before contacting every other Lost that I had a number for.

  A call came in. Without even looking at the caller ID, I answered.

  “What the hell is going on out there? Your team was supposed to report back to me as soon as you finished wrapping up there.”

  Vincent raised his eyebrows. Even several feet away he could make out Barry's ranting.

  “We're wrapping up now,” I replied, trying to keep my voice even.

  “Then why are half the Lost in the state calling and asking for protection or wanting to move back to The Farm?” Barry's voice could grind stones. Unfortunately, I was the stone. “I want to see you three in my office before this day is over.” Barry hung up.

  It felt good for the three of us to be referred to as a team, but the thought was fleeting. Most of the agents were slowing down as the adrenaline high wore off.

  “Should we have waited to contact the Lost?” I asked.

  “If we don't do what we can for the people we're protecting, we shouldn't be doing this job,” Vincent replied.

  Sounded like a good philosophy, but I didn't think I’d mention it to Barry.

  The doctor arrived. He took one look at the Pixie and left with emergency sirens blaring.

  The cleanup crew was close behind, along with a civilian fire truck. Most agents kept their distance as the fire crew put out the fire. Logan, Vincent and I, went over the items we had recovered, making sure everything was tagged. As the sun started to dip, we closed up our truck and headed toward the office.

  “They cleared out because they had been warned,” I said. “It's like what you said earlier, Vincent. They knew we were coming.”

  “That bothers me,” Logan said. “No one outside AIR could have known.”

  “And the information was precise enough that we could have suffered casualties,” Vincent said.

  “Someone at AIR caused this damage?” I had a hard time wrapping my brain around that type of betrayal. “Did they want us dead, too?”

  “I think it's both,” Logan's voice could eclipse the sun. He took a deep breath. “We already know someone wants Cassie dead, but Hank hasn't been able to find any traces of that.”

  “It could be any number of people at the office,” I said. “Who arranged this, I mean, not who wants me dead. I don't know anyone who would want me dead.”

  “Vincent did at one point,” Logan said, not taking his eyes off the road. “You survived where most people would have died.”

  “I thought we were past blaming Vincent,” I said.

  “Logan's not wrong,” Vincent said. “I can take it for granted that I'm not guilty, but you two can't afford to do that.”

  This conversation was not going where I intended it to go.

  “Don’t go jumping ahead,” Logan said. “I said at one point. I’ve watched Vincent pretty closely the past week. I think he’s in the clear.”

  “But there are other possibilities,” I said, trying to push past the idea of Vincent being wrapped up in this mess. “Who else could arrange this?”

  “Pretty much anyone with computer access,” said Logan.

  “Possibly, but they would have been working fast. The place hadn’t been abandoned long,” Vincent said.

  “The Paths weren’t that old,” I agreed.

  “So, either we were told to investigate and they left in a hurry, or they cleared out and then we were told to investigate. Someone probably planted the bomb while we were on the way, although it could have happened before we left.”

  “That leaves most of AIR as suspects,” I said. “Anyone could have overheard Barry or Kyrian discussing today's operation. Or maybe even overheard Hank report about the hot spots detected by radar.”

  “Leaves a lot of people,” Logan said, “even ourselves.”

  “Barry and Kyrian weren't shy about their discussion the other day,” Vincent said. “They kept it quiet but didn't go behind closed doors. As busy as the office is, I wonder if they've had other conversations that could be overheard?”

  We pulled up the gates and used our card key to get through. Silently, we made our way to the office building and straight into Barry's office. As we went across the main control room floor, I took a closer look at everyone there. Who could have overheard the conversation? Who could have set this up?

  Barry was alone in his office. As he talked, his face grew dark and his voice rose. In the end, his face was red and he was nearly out of breath. He made it clear that everything must go through him in the future. Not someone else in the office, but him. I managed to look properly chastised. Vincent's face was blank. Logan was rocking back and forth on his feet humming softly. I knew that Logan wouldn't have done anything different.

  After being dismissed, Vincent went up to the doctor to get his arm re-wrapped. I wanted to go with him, but I wasn't sure if it was because he was my partner, or because I was starting to feel something more. It had been an intense afternoon, but I still remember the crushing feeling I had when I thought I would lose him.

  That only brought more confusion. In the end, I stayed downstairs.

  The day had been a long one. The items in the truck weren't going to log themselves, so after a large helping of coffee, I started schlepping everything into the office. I took careful notes, cataloging each thing. Vincent helped and even Logan poked around the contents. By the time I was done, the office was dark and only a few people sat at desks.

  We had narrowed down our suspect list to AIR agents. I took note again of each person around the room. The list of suspects might b
e narrowed, but it was still a substantial list.

  The house was dark when we returned home. Logan ghosted around the side of the house, headed for home.

  Vincent and I headed straight for the stairs. The smell of smoke hung around us, and I was desperate for a shower and my bed.

  On the landing, Vincent grabbed my hand before I could open my door.

  “Cass, wait,” he said, “I made a mistake today.”

  My heart skidded and I was suddenly more awake than I had been a moment ago.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Today at the barn. I almost killed some good agents today, including you.”

  “You didn't know.”

  “I didn't listen.”

  “Look, it's not your fault.”

  Vincent clutched my hand. “If anything had happened to you...”

  Thankfully, it wasn’t likely he could see my blush in the dim light.

  I squeezed his hand in response. “I felt the same way.”

  The words were barely out when he kissed me. There was no tentativeness. It was a hard, unrestrained kiss.

  Chapter 20

  I was wide awake as the heat built up in my body. I pulled myself into Vincent, meeting his force with my own. Deep inside, I felt connected with him as I had with no one else.

  He pushed me against the wall. I pulled him against me roughly, making sure there was no space between us. We were caught up in the passion of the moment.

  At least I was.

  Vincent squeezed my shoulders and pushed himself away. We were both breathing heavily.

  “I've wanted to do that for a while now,” Vincent said.

  I grabbed his arm. “Then why stop?”

  “We should wait,” he said. “I don't want anything to get in the way of fixing your soul. If we get distracted by this...”

  The fact that he was right didn’t make it any easier to walk away. Something inside me wanted connection with Vincent.

  ***

  “Cassie, hon, you gotta wake up.”

  Startled from sleep, my eyes snapped open and I flung myself away. It took about two seconds before Gran's voice registered. It was still dark, but the light from the hallway illuminated her shape.

  I glanced at the clock. Since I had been startled, my mind sluggishly turned, trying to catch up. “It's 3:30 in the morning?” I'm not sure if I was asking a real question, but I think it came out that way.

  “I know, sweetie, but you've gotta get up and get to work.”

  “Work called?” I asked, getting up to speed. After being chewed out by Barry last night, I wasn't looking forward to an early morning disaster.

  “No, no, work didn't call, but you gotta go to work.” My eyes were starting to adjust to the dark. Gran rubbed her hands together anxiously. “I've already called Logan and he'll be here in a jiff. I'll meet you downstairs.”

  “Gran, wait,” I said, starting to move around the room, “do you know what it is?”

  “I'll meet you downstairs,” she said again, and shut my door behind her. After throwing my clothes on, I nearly ran into Vincent in the hall. For a moment, we stared at each other, the only light coming from downstairs. He touched my arm briefly before we headed downstairs. We made a beeline to the light in the kitchen. Logan was already there.

  “Margaret, is everything okay?” Vincent asked.

  Gran poured black coffee into a tumbler and shook her head.

  “I just don't know,” Gran said. “I don't know.” She stirred up coffee with milk and sugar. “Maybe someone left the coffee maker on at work, or maybe it's something else.” She poured another steaming cup into a tumbler and added a generous amount of Hershey's syrup. “It feels like something else. Something bigger.” Gran filled a third tumbler with straight black coffee.

  Logan looked in my direction. I combed my fingers through my hair as a means of brushing it. I stopped. The usual happy, always smiling Logan had a cloud over him. That made me draw up and really think about what was going on.

  My clumsy early morning brain protested at being put to work. I closed my eyes and drew in a few deep breaths of air. The air tasted static. Concentrating hard, I tried to open only the smallest hint of the Path and I looked around the room. The air around Logan was empty, which was a relief. This is how his Path had looked before my soul had been damaged.

  Looking over at Gran, the Path rippled and showed me a charged storm cloud clinging to her. It resisted the usual ripples and flows of the Path. Keeping a vice like hold on my concentration, I walked over to Gran. I hesitated, not wanting to get to step into the turbulence that surrounded her.

  Her eyes were wide and her hands were trembling. Taking a deep breath, I took her hand, gripped it for a moment, and then held my hand a hair above her own. The atmosphere around Gran's hand presented some resistance. I pushed my energy out through my hand, expecting it to flow into Gran's aura and chase away what lurked around her. It felt like my Path hit a glass wall. Without saying anything, we both held out our other hands, this time Gran putting her hand above my own. I forced energy out with my right hand as I tried to pull in with my left. Usually, this would have created a circuit of energy flow. Anyone can create a circuit like this. It's a great way to share energy. This time, however, there was no flow.

  “Gran?” There was real fear in my voice. This made Logan and Vincent pull nearer to us, but they dared not touch us.

  Gran sighed and lowered her hands.

  “Gran,” I said again, “you're being blocked.” I tried and failed to pull the fear out of my voice. I had never been blocked before, and to my knowledge, neither had Gran. It was as if someone had put a bubble over her.

  Logan frowned and moved in. He put a hand on Gran's arm. He rested it there a moment, then squeezed her arm and pulled away.

  I looked up at him, hopeful. Maybe some of his hidden elfin magic could fix things.

  He frowned and shook his head at me. “I thought maybe—but no, I don't feel anything.”

  “Vincent?” I pleaded.

  Vincent came over and put a hand on my arm and a hand on Gran's. He shook his head and backed away.

  “You've gotta go,” Gran said. She moved back over to the counter and fitted lids on our to-go cups.

  “No, Gran, we have to fix this. This is—” My words tumbled away. Gran shook her head.

  “It's like an itch I can't scratch, but I'm fine, sugar. You and Logan have somewhere you need to be.”

  It felt wrong. Deep in my heart and head, it felt wrong to leave her like that.

  “We can work on this, it won't take long.” There was a tremor in my voice.

  “You should know better. Neither you nor I even know what this is. It could be nothin’.” Gran shook her head as my words once again died away. “Look at the three of you. It's not like my hand has been cut off. I'm not standing here bleedin’. Scat, all of ya. What I do know is that you, Logan, and Vincent have to be on your way into the office.” Gran smiled at our stubbornness and shooed us out.

  She said it wasn't like her hand has been chopped off, I thought as I followed out the door. I wasn't so sure about that.

  When we got into the truck, Logan took his usual place in the driver's seat. We were quiet.

  Logan usually would have tried a pep talk at this point. He was very adept at noticing when something was dragging me down, and his determination for happiness was something that could not be conquered. This morning, he wasn’t smiling and there was no cheerful humming to fill the silence. Missing the cheerful noise wasn't something that I expected.

  “You heard her.” I tried to fake a smile. “It could be something small.”

  “She's blocked,” Logan said.

  All attempts at putting a good natured spin on things vanished. I sniffed.

  “I don't know what to do. I've never felt anything like it.” Panic welled up inside of me. “I shouldn't leave her like that.”

  “Is there anything you could do?” Vincent asked.r />
  He reached out and took my hand. If Logan noticed, he didn't say anything.

  “Maybe the doctor?” I suggested.

  Logan shook his head. There it is. That sinking feeling of coming up to something and falling way short. I didn't bother to reply. If I had never felt anything like it before, how could I hope to combat it? Maybe it was something natural, but no, I was fooling myself into thinking that way. I took some comfort in the warm hand wrapped around mine.

  “Have Susan check in on her, will you? Or Jonathan?” I asked Logan.

  “I'll call as soon as we get to the office,” Logan said.

  After passing through the checkpoints, we parked in the office lot next to the other work vehicles. The night field crews were out, so there weren't many cars. It was only with reluctance that I let go of Vincent’s hand.

  Walking into the building, we saw no signs of life. The place looked exactly like it should look at five in the morning. There was no excitement and no one running around screaming fire. Nothing to indicate what Gran might be worried about.

  Logan called Susan and asked her to check on Gran. For good measure, I called Gran as well. She repeated her 'I'm fine' mantra, which did nothing to soothe my uncertainty. Logan nodded at me and we headed to the control room.

  When we entered the room, there was a complete lack of activity. Lost that only came out at night tended to keep the shift as busy as we were during the day. And we had only been gone a few hours. Only a handful of the night crew, either bent over desks, or hovering around the small coffee table, was present.

  There was nothing to indicate why Gran would be alarmed. People looked up when we entered, surprised that someone would be coming in at this time. Some returned to work with a nod in our direction and a few raised their hands in hello with puzzled looks on their faces. Vincent went over to a desk and booted up a computer. The nighttime technician waved Logan and me over.

  “A little early for you day timers, isn't it?” he asked as we walked up.

  “Decided to get an early start on things,” Logan said. “Everything quiet tonight?”

  “Quieter than it was when you left a few hours ago. You've had an eventful week,” he said.