Sphinx Transformed (The Sphinx Warriors Series Book 3)

by Christine Murphy

  Joshua led her to the center leather chair which faced Michael. She couldn’t remember how many times she had seen Joshua sit in this very chair. Tentatively, she sat down and when Joshua finally let go of her hand she crossed her arms in front of her. She shivered without his contact and wished he would continue touching her. He didn’t go far though, positioning himself by her side like her own personal guard.

  Alexandria sat in the chair for a moment, stubbornly staring at the floor. All she wanted to do was go to her room and try to make sense of her life again. Most of all, she wanted just to spend time with Joshua and hope he would hold her again and make all of this go away. But she knew it wasn’t going to happen. In the end, she looked up to see what kind of condemnation would be in her brother’s eyes.

  What she saw wasn’t what she had expected. Instead, so much sadness and regret emanated from him. He looked almost exhausted as Joshua with dark circles forming around his eyes too. In fact, all of the Warriors seemed more tired than usual. Had they done this to themselves searching for her? By the Ancients, what had she caused? Her weaknesses from her attempt to help the Warriors as a young girl had kept Joshua chained to her side for all those years and then without the strength to fight back by herself, Turin had been able to take her. She thought the Warriors would have been better off destroying her. She felt like her heart was breaking and tears came to her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Michael.” She whispered.

  He took a halting step toward her as if to comfort her but stopped up short. Alexandria watched while he clenched his jaw and stepped back from her. Thickly he said, “I know, sis. I wish we could have prevented all of this.” He looked away from her and she knew the conflict in him had to be tearing him apart. A Wraith in his sister’s image. How could he love someone like her? There was no way he could because he had to think of his people and the defense against the Wraith.

  Michael just stood there for a moment clenching his fists. He crossed his arms across his chest and a muscle ticked in his jaw. Her brother was conflicted and all she could do was wait in nail biting anticipation as to her fate. Finally, he said, “You know why you’re here?”

  “Y…Yes,” She stuttered. “You must know the truth.” Everything in her wanted to tell him the truth too. But the inner Wraith, yes the Wraith would try and stop her. Even suppressed, the creature still was a part of her. Which meant the Wraith would try to make her lie, avoid revealing secrets she only half remembered at times. There was only one way they would be able to make sure she wouldn’t lie and Raven was the tool. She shivered knowing this could be painful. As if she hadn’t gone through enough pain as it was.

  Alexandria felt a strong hand on her shoulder. Joshua ever beside her was trying to give her comfort. “Michael, let her try and answer the questions before we resort to Raven. She can do this. Alexandria is strong. You know this.”

  “I wish we could be sure. I would do anything not to have to resort to this.” Michael ran his hands over his face and up through his hair. He looked at Alexandria and she could tell he was pleading with her to understand.

  “It’s okay. I understand and agree.” When she felt Joshua hover closer to her and his hand tighten on her shoulder, she reached back and placed her hand on his. She looked up at him. The fury written across his features didn’t bode well for anyone. “Please, Joshua, you need the information. I can do this.”

  He growled ominously staring down the other Warriors and his hand began to shake on her shoulder. Alexandria hoped he was going to be okay. He didn’t have the energy to be taking on any of the other Warriors. The fury in him didn’t diminish but finally he let go of her and backed up a few feet. “If anything happens to her after all she has gone through, there’ll be hell to pay on everyone’s heads.”

  Raven took a big swig from his flask, twirled the cap back on, and shoved it back in his pocket. He sighed heavily and stood up moving over to Alexandria. She gripped the leather arms of the chair in a death grip. This wouldn’t be easy but she was determined to do it. Raven could monitor to see if the answer was the truth, bring the truth to the surface, or rip it from a person if necessary. Truth Finder was his special gift. She prayed it would not be necessary.

  As Raven passed Eleina, she reached out and grabbed his hand. “Raven, give her the chance to answer first. You know her even if she has that thing in her.”

  Pausing for a moment, Raven just stood there looking lost in his thoughts. Alexandria knew he hated to do this. Every time he did, the use of his ability was a drain on him and tore him up just as much as the person he helped get the truth out of. Nodding, he continued over to her.

  Positioning himself where Joshua had just been, Raven placed both of his hands on her shoulders. Alexandria’s heart rate started to climb and her muscles tensed under his hands. She jumped when his Power tingled along her skin and into her nervous system. She could feel the energy move through her spinal column and up to the base of her brain. Raven locked into the rhythm of her brain waves and when he made contact with the Wraith side of her, the creature screamed in her mind. She shook her head back and forth trying to make the beast stop. She had to get control of it to get to the information they needed without Raven having to fry her brain.

  Joshua growled again. She couldn’t see him, but she could hear his advance to attack Raven. He didn’t make it very far when Hunter and Jacob grabbed him slamming him one of the seats near her and holding him down.

  “Stop, I’ve got this. I can do this. Just give me a moment.” Alexandria cried breathlessly.

  The last thing she needed to make her day was having Joshua locked up or beaten down because of her. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated on the stand-off with her inner beast butting heads with it. Since the creature was partially suppressed anyway it made it less difficult to weave her energy around the Wraith side of her psyche, effectively chaining it down. Eventually, she was able to subdue it, although not without a lot of effort and concentration. She was sweating profusely by the time she had managed the task. She shook like a leaf, but she was prepared to move on with the questioning.

  “She’s ready. Get the damn questions over with.” Raven answered from above her. Obviously, he wasn’t pleased with having to be a part of the interrogation and ready to get the process over with too.

  Michael stepped closer and squatted down before her, his arms on his knees for balance. “Alexandria start from the beginning and tell us about the abduction.”

  Swallowing, Alexandria waited a moment, but there was no negative feedback from the Wraith by the request. “I was working in medical on some patient testing, and suddenly there was a crash at the main doors. The next thing I knew, I was grabbed by a Wraith and it subdued me. The Wraith took just enough Life Power so I couldn’t reflex my Element or fight it off. After that, all I could do was hang there off its shoulder. The Wraith took me to the Gate and dragged me to the other side. To the Drake Dimension and the Wraith stronghold.”

  She shivered feeling Raven’s energy move within her searching for anything else from that night. She flinched when Raven touched the dark side of her mentality, which instantly resisted giving up any more information. Joshua cursed and tried to push off Hunter and Jacob to get to her.

  “Alexandria I need you to get the information from that thing in you or I’m going to have to resort to my more persuasive abilities.” Raven demanded. “And I don’t want to do that to you.”

  “Give me a moment, damn it.” The Wraith hovered over the truth for a moment, but Alexandria slammed it with her own Power until the creature whined in her mind. It was strange having a part of her that was seemingly separate but her at the same time. She could inflict damage to it, but at the same time was causing damage to herself. A wave of pain hit her in the gut, and she gasped but was rewarded with the Wraith backing off.

  “The Wraith that abducted me wasn’t the same as the others. It had features that were more humanoid than the other Wraith and the Wraith was much more intelligent.
It seemed to be operating on its own and with distinct direction.” Suddenly shocked, she stared at Michael and was sure her mouth was hanging open. “It’s not just me he altered. He’s genetically altering the other Wraith to make them smarter, more dangerous to us. By the Ancients, he’s altering them with Sphinx DNA.”

  “Fuck!” “Son of a bitch.” “By the Ancients.” The expletives exploded around the room. Until Michael roared, “Enough!”

  He focused back on Alexandria and she swallowed. He was livid and his Power swirled around the room for a moment.

  “So he’s using his chemistry set again and making the enemy stronger and more dangerous to destroy us. To that end, he altered you. Why Alexandria? What was your purpose?” Michael’s expression filled with sadness and he reached out as if he was going to touch her. However, he snatched his hand back when she suddenly hissed at him and leaned forward. Raven yanked her back and squeezed her shoulders hard holding her in place.

  Appalled, Alexandria slapped her hand over mouth for a moment. The Wraith had jumped in her mind trying to take control when Michael had gotten closer to her. If it was not for the fact the dark side of her was suppressed and Raven had a good hold on her, she would have attacked Michael, she was sure. Dropping her shaking hand, she re-grasped the arm of the chair with a renewed death grip.

  “I’m so sorry Michael.” She wanted to break down, but she didn’t have time. Raven only had so much patience and he would find the truth himself. Taking a deep breath, she attacked the Wraith’s secrets within her with a renewed vengeance. She was sure she would pay later. It fought her tooth and nail and by the time she had broken loose the information, she was soaked in her own sweat, shaking, and feeling light headed.

  “Turin knew I could take the Power and change it. I used the Life Power to heal, but he thought it could be used for other things. One of the side effects of the alteration was I could take the energy of the Gate and change it so when the Gate should be in a closed, inactivated mode, it would be open.”

  “Holy crap, dude.” Ethan chimed in from his furious typing at his terminal. “You were the one causing the Gates to open up when they shouldn’t have been. Making us run our asses off back and forth to battles that shouldn’t have been happening.”

  Alexandria nodded. “Yes.” She bit her lip not wanting to reveal the second half of her purpose for being there. She clasped her hands in her lap twisting them nervously. She so didn’t want to go into this part, but she dove in anyway. “My secondary mission as you already know was to…umm…” she glanced up to watch Michael’s expression to the rest of her revelation, “take out the Khenti as soon as possible. My Wraith was a little too well trained and went for the goal before we were truly ready. And the rest on that side you know.”

  Michael stood up and turned away from her running his hands through his dark black hair, leaving it tangled and awry. When he neared the desk, he slammed his fist into the top of it. Ethan jumped up from behind his computers, clearly getting pissed. “Khenti, dude, you’re making it difficult here. You want these up or what?”

  “Fuck!” Slowly Michael turned back toward her and pinned her with a stare. “Alexandria, you’ve given us a lot of information, but I suspect as easy as that all was, there has to be more. What is the Wraith hiding from you that Turin may have inadvertently revealed to you?”

  Confused, all she could do was look at Michael. She didn’t know what he was talking about. The knowledge she had revealed had been difficult enough, and she was glad Raven hadn’t had to do anything to her. Still, she felt his presence and the tingling of his energy as he seemed to be probing in the depths of her mind. He must suspect something and was communicating with Michael through the Warrior’s Link.

  “I don’t know, Michael. I swear.” She shivered dreading what she was about to allow. Closing her eyes, she swallowed and blurted out. “We have to be sure. Raven you have to do it.”

  “No!” Joshua exploded up from the seat. Hunter and Jacob barely got a hold of him before he would probably have attacked Raven. He fought them tooth and nail, struggling violently against their grip, but in his weakened condition, he couldn’t fight them off.

  Alexandria shook her head at him frantically. “Joshua, stop, please. This has to be done.” Looking over her shoulder she demanded of Raven, “Now, you have to do this now.”

  Raven nodded at her. She could tell he wasn’t happy about having to use his Truth Finder abilities on her, but he seemed to understand. His grip tightened on her and all she had was time to take a deep breath before he pushed his Power into her system. Her body went rigid with the sharp energy charging through her brain looking for the hidden information.

  There were things she didn’t want to share with anyone, emotions which had been hidden for so long, feelings, and sacrifices she had made for the Warriors. But even through the shredding mental agony and her own vicious internal attack against the Wraith part of herself, she knew Raven would take her secrets to the grave. He might rip out the answers to the questions asked, but he wouldn’t reveal the others he saw. It was just who he was and probably why he was so tortured all the time.

  The Wraith inside her screeched and fought against both of them but Raven kept the pressure on digging deep for the information the dark side of her was hiding. Alexandria struggled, twisting and clawing at the chair, but she wouldn’t fight Raven off instead fighting with him. Each blow to the inner Wraith did damage to her but in the end she was rewarded with the truth. The blinding truth of the secret Turin didn’t want revealed to anyone.

  “Stop! Stop, Raven. I know. See that I know.” She cried. For a moment, she wasn’t sure if he was able to hear her because he was so caught up in the raging memories and information which were bombarding him. A command from Michael and the promise of death from Joshua had him snatching his hands away from her.

  Trying to catch her breath, Alexandria shifted in her chair to see if Raven was alright. He had his hands held to his head, his face pale and anguished. It took him a moment but his expression cleared and became sullen and withdrawn. He yanked the flask from his pocket and took a huge swig. “Don’t ever ask me to do that again. She can tell you what we found.” Turning on his heel, he stalked from the room slamming the door behind him so hard it shook the frame.

  “Let me the fuck go, you assholes.” Joshua was finally released and he immediately came to her. Alexandria just sat there in her bone deep weariness while Joshua ran his hands over her checking to make sure she was okay. When he appeared satisfied she was relatively unharmed, he stayed squatted down beside her and held her hand. He turned and scowled back at Michael.

  “Reel your aggression in Warrior and direct it at the Wraith. You know this had to be done.” Michael looked at her expectantly and Alexandria was more than ready to reveal what she had found.

  Running her hand not captured in Joshua’s grip across the leather arm in nervousness, she almost jumped up from the chair when she realized what she had done. She found during Raven’s manipulations she had gouged up the chair while she was struggling. “By the Ancients, I am dangerous.”

  Michael’s clearing of his throat brought her back to the need to reveal what she had found. “I know now what I had briefly seen during Turin’s dragging me back and forth for his genetic experiments. For some reason the Wraith took me a different direction than before one night and we ended up passing through some type of archives area. Smack in the middle of the room inside an enclosed book pedestal was a page from the Pages of Seven. I’m pretty sure it was the Fifth page.”

  Caleb had been silent the whole time of the interrogation but suddenly he spoke up, “That’s impossible. Guardian Arik told me the Fifth page had been destroyed in a fire.” Everyone stared at him in the room. Even Alexandria hadn’t heard about that. He squirmed under the stares and blurted out, “What? You didn’t know about the incident?”

  Joshua scowled, “Evidently not. Another piece of information the Guardians needed to share.”
Alexandria reached over and smoothed her fingers across the corner of his mouth. She couldn’t help it, she was tired of not being able to see Joshua’s smile and the dimple which formed that made her heart beat faster.

  Alexandria continued in her description, “The page did look singed on the edges, if I remember correctly. I wasn’t exactly in my right mind at the time, but the page did have gold scribing on the edges and Power Signatures of the Priestesses on it. Also, I don’t think it was a complete page.”

  Silence filled the room while everyone digested her revelation for a moment. Michael began pacing back and forth rubbing the back of his neck. “We need to get the page back. I don’t know how but it’s part of the key to destroying the Gate and any future Gates.” He paused in his pacing and Alexandria recognized a look she had seen cross her brother’s face before. A look which would cause grief in the long run if he acted on his own. “I need to think on this,” was all he said, but she knew there was more.

  Before she could engage him, though, one of Ethan’s alarms started going off. The loud siren vibrated through her skull aggravating her already unbalanced condition. Her skin prickled with the sensation of dark energy as it spread through the complex. She knew what the implications were as the Dimensional Gate’s presence became known heralding the approach of an opening. Not a good sign for the already weak Warriors, but the evil part of her shrieked in glee welcoming the chance of escape.

  Warriors all around her jumped to their feet rubbing at their Sefu Elements. Their Power would be flowing to the bracelet form readying it to reflex into their Power Swords. Joshua jerked to his feet as well pulling her up with him and drawing her close to his side. Her own hand twitched with the energy ramping up in her body and flowing to her Element but she didn’t dare reflex. Michael was too near and she didn’t trust the Wraith wouldn’t take over and attack him.