by Jenn Nixon
On the way into the base, Dina was first to ask for a review of the entire plan and took up her usual station to listen. When Duncan reached Connor’s bit, she interrupted, “What are you going to tell him?”
“We’re asking for a second opinion, think the information we received was corrupted and want him to vet the target for us before we go after him again,” Duncan said.
“Oh, so you’re not pretending he’s a psychic?”
“No, we just want to get him into their database,” Liam added. “Regardless of what they do with the data once they bring him up, we’ll be watching who accesses the file.”
“What if they approach him or try to take another sample?” she asked.
“They can,” Valtor replied. “I’ll be sure to leave various pieces of trash during my walks. Once they test the fresh sample I will not be of importance to them.”
“I hope you’re right about this.” Dina twisted her mouth and gazed down at her station, reviewing last night’s recordings from the new safe house.
“I assure you we have thought the plan through, thoroughly,” Valtor said, smiling. “I always wanted to say that.” Everyone except Dina laughed. “Sweet pea?”
“Sorry, yeah cute…I just don’t have happy vibes about this, Pop, if you want me to be honest.”
“Yes, Dina, that’s all I want, and I think I speak for all of us when I say we’re cautiously optimistic about this plan.” Valtor rose from his chair and moved to the edge of the stations. “With you and your brother watching me, I am certain this is the right path.”
“You Shrian’s and your paths,” Dina said, nodding. “Okay, but if anything seems off or too easy or weird, you let us know ASAP. Promise?”
“I promise,” Valtor said.
“Kim and I will walk you out,” Duncan said as he tugged his girlfriend away from her station to meet Pop near the exit. “Be right back.”
“If you need me, Dina, call.”
When Dina lifted her head to respond, she saw Kim lying still in Duncan’s arms as he stared blankly ahead, trails of tears running down his soot-covered face. Shutting her eyes brought sounds to the surface and her brother’s blood-curdling wail vibrated through her head.
“Dina?” Liam called from the hub.
“Sweet pea?”
“It’s just a headache, Pop. Liam can give me some energy, clear it right up.” Dina rubbed her temple and waving for them to go. “Be careful, Pop. I mean it.”
Only when they were gone and the door shut, did she start struggling for breath, probably because she’d been holding it the whole time. The hyperventilating drew Liam to her side, making it even harder to calm down. She grabbed him by the shirt, gasping harder.
“I’m contacting Caelum.”
“No!” she wheezed, shoving him back just as the blue barrier began materializing around her skin. A flood of images ripped into her head too fast for her to make any sense of them, yet she felt each emotion: terror, panic, hopelessness, and so much anger paralyzed her, making the barrier stronger, because it was her second skin now, the only way to not be vulnerable, not die, and to stay alive. She had to stay alive.
“Dina?”
She grabbed her head, fighting the images, trying to ignore the sensations, and the harder she fought the stronger they grew. “Stop!”
“Star-wielder,” Caelum’s smooth, deep voice sizzled against the barrier. She met his shimmering silver eyes and titled head. “Lower your shield, let me help you.”
Dina shook her head. “I don’t care how much it aches or how confused I get or whose feelings are hurt, I won’t let you have them, you can’t take what’s left, not until I know everyone is safe and Gardner is dead.”
“What happened to not committing murder, Dina,” he said, stepping closer as Liam moved to his side helping him distract her.
She wasn’t having any of it and sent a smidge more energy to the shield aware no one would get through it. “Don’t.”
“Dina, let him sequester the rest of the memories, should the time come when we need them—”
“I will retrieve them,” Caelum replied sternly.
“That’s what you want, isn’t it,” she said, guessing until his eyes flashed. “I told you he’s thought about it, Liam. He probably came to the same conclusions and now he wants to see, that’s why he’s so eager to help.”
“Not entirely true, Dina. But yes, I have my theories, many of which include reasons why you’d need my energy.”
“What about the ones where I take it?”
Caelum laughed. “Unlikely, only an Enhancer or Conduit would even have a remote chance not—”
“A psychic-visitor hybrid Shrian twin with the ability to give and take energy? You can’t be that naive.”
“What have you seen?” The Enhancer’s silver eyes darkened as he tried to penetrate her shield.
“Your vision doesn’t work on me.”
“Dina,” Liam’s voice warned.
“How—”His eyes narrowed. “What do you know?”
“Enough to know how and why she gets your energy…is just as important as these experiments or Project Phoenix—”
“And Marjorie?” Liam added, making her wince with the sting of reality.
“If you delve into those memories…break through that wall, I cannot mend you, Dina.”
“Haven’t you already done enough?”
Liam’s face drained of color. “Dina!”
“Yes, perhaps I have.” Caelum frowned, his silver eyes returning to blue just before he evaporated with a silver pop.
Certain he wasn’t coming right back, Dina lowered the barrier and felt all of her energy drain. She collapsed into Liam’s arms. Their link came immediately and she absorbed his strength and serenity letting it fill every cell. His grip on her hand tightened.
“Easy.”
“More, please,” she begged, shuddering despite the heat inside building.
“Enough, Dina,” he said sharply, breaking the link.
The fuzziness in her head cleared and every word replayed in her mind. She slapped both hands to her face. Oh my god, what did I do?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Caelum landed across the galaxy in the middle of the Ulorie Flatlands and slammed his fist into the ground, cracking and shaking and breaking the barren landscape beneath his feet. The quake swelled outward, destroying ten miles worth of dusty brown earth. His screams, practically tangible, ripped through the air, startling the limited wild life of avian creatures and sending them scurrying in various directions.
He dropped to his knees and felt Sanjeeta brush against his mind. Unable to ignore her call, he shut his eyes and tried to concentrate. I am here.
Are you all right?
I may have to postpone our date tonight.
I know, you’re already late.
He didn’t need the link or his senses to hear the slight irritation in her communication. What he had to say next would undoubtedly elevate the feeling. The team has set their plan in motion and will contact you should anything arise…
Caelum, what’s going on?
He turned away from the crater he created and peered through the sky, looking for somewhere else to go. I need time to sort my thoughts. I need to understand my place here among the humans, see if I am doing more harm than good.
Okay, let me help.
He shook his head as if she would see. I don’t need to quiet my mind—
Bullcrap, with it quiet you can focus on one thing at a time.
I’m afraid that’s no longer an option. The many threads are beginning to unravel around me. Please, Sanjeeta, do not make this more difficult than it must be. I only need a day or two.
Will you keep our link open, stay connected so I know you’re okay?
If that is your wish, yes. Caelum shut his eyes, sighing.
Anytime you need me, I’ll be there, her mental voice softened as if she were about to cry. Be careful, Caelum.
I will.
How?
How far back did he need to go to understand?
He turned his thoughts farther than he’d visited in many years, to his first trip to Earth, during the height of the Roman Empire and his return a thousand years later. Although humans had not yet grasped industry and technology, civilizations had advanced far greater than he’d seen on other planets. Caelum didn’t remember if he knew then that other visitors had come to Earth and stayed, but he watched and eventually grew so fond of humans and their world he put them directly in the path of Tenebris as part of a misguided revenge scheme.
That history did not seem to apply to this situation, no, he needed to focus on the team.
Caelum’s ties to the MIND team began at least two hundred years ago when he recruited Rivia as his Conduit to help him find others willing to protect Earth from Tenebris. He spent years listening to the visitors and descendants on the planet, seeing their connections to one another, steering them together, helping them find each other, and predicting their choices the longer they remained together.
All of it seemed trivial to the question at hand. Did Dina truly have the power to take his energy? He’d set her on the path to meet Liam, certain Theo and Valtor would get involved, but unaware the latter had been held captive. Tolk had sped up the emergence by kidnapping the precog, Yipat, subsequently helping Lexa manifest as Enhancer. Yet, Dina became instrumental in keeping the team together, something he didn’t predict, nor her importance to Lexa and the reckoning. It had been the only reason he helped her after she healed Theo and needed to save Valtor—
Caelum’s heart stopped.
The realization nearly tore it apart.
He had to be certain.
It took him an entire day to review every detail.
The conclusion burned his soul. Everything he so carefully plotted out altered by one selfless moment. He’d given her his energy, his life-force, to save her father from the brink of death. His energy created her barrier. His energy allowed her future self to travel back. That’s why it felt similar when he’d first encountered it. He was responsible for everything happening to her.
Dina still had Enhancer energy running through her body.
Unable to bear the weight and allow his mind to theorize if she truly would drain him to save her family, Caelum reappeared on the volcanic planet of Ribegh, on the furthest edges of a neighboring galaxy, away from the noises of Earth, its inhabitants, and all the emotional turmoil he suffered on a daily bases when planet bound.
He needed to void his mind.
Be Enhancer.
Forget his promises to help the team. If he remained involved, all would die. He’d seen it. Dina had seen it. Her hyperawareness was not just intuition.
Caelum’s heart ruptured as tears threatened to spoil his vision of the darkly beautiful poisoned world. He could not argue the words. He knew she was right. He had to stay away if they were to survive. Give up his connection to Sanjeeta. Caelum had already done too much to alter this planet’s course of natural events. He didn’t belong and he was finally starting to understand why.
***
Four days after uploading Valtor’s fake information into the unit database, Liam worried the tension among the MIND team reached a tipping point. The unit, having vetted Valtor’s information, already moved on, yet no one else had accessed the file. The only thing on the apartment complex security feed was the somewhat normal routine of Valtor, Zila, and a few other people squatting in the mostly deserted building, the former careful to add slight variations day to day for appearance sake.
Dina’s guilt over the argument with Caelum had manifested into a cold exterior, masquerading as being busy with work, and only during the quiet nights alone, she’d drop her guard and take solace in his arms. Thankfully, she hadn’t had an episode or dream in four peaceful days.
Liam hated the thought even as it passed through his mind. Since Caelum’s departure, Dina seemed the only one to benefit. No one, not even Lexa or Sanjeeta, had contact with Caelum. That worried him the most.
Liam felt fortunate if half the team appeared together at the penthouse at one time. Even with Hinta and Jazara spending more shifts in the base and Sanjeeta’s visit a couple of days ago, the apartment felt empty. Dina, always aware of his emotional state on some level no matter how hard he blocked, glanced back from her station.
“Everyone’s on eight hour shifts now, and we both happen to have the next two free so we should take advantage. Feel like ordering in? Sushi?”
“We only have two more episodes left of our binge,” he said, nodding, loving it when her eyes lit up, bringing her closer to her normal self, free of future memories and terrible nightmares. “Saki?”
“You know it, spaceboy.”
Halfway through eating dinner on the balcony, his Netphone beeped with a message from Aime. The jolt to his system easily caught Dina’s attention. She glanced down at the screen, sighed, and pushed her food away.
“I’ll go to the base, initiate phase two, and then we finish those two episodes, deal?”
“I’m holding you to it,” she replied, tilting her head up when he neared to kiss her. He saw the longing in her eyes and knew what she had planned for the evening, and though he wanted nothing more than to take her to bed, missing her desperately, Valtor and Zila’s lives were in the team’s hand. “Hurry back.”
“I will do my best, love,” he said, kissing her again quickly before teleporting to the kitchen and pulling open the base door. Inside, Duncan sat at the hub, chatting with Aime about phase two. The elder twin glanced up and said hello. “What’s done?”
“I warned Pop the file was accessed, got Aime started on a trace, and I messaged Hinta and Jaz to get to the pod,” Duncan replied. “You got the rest?”
Liam nodded and went to Dina’s station and tapped in a message to Lexa and Bates, asking them to get to base within the hour to monitor Aime and sent a second to Theo and Casey updating them on the situation aware they still wanted to work remotely.
“Someone should try to contact Caelum again, at this point it’s getting a bit ridiculous,” Duncan said, glancing up with weary eyes. “He’s gotta know Dina was just off her rocker with everything going on in her head.”
“I am sure he’ll come to that conclusion, however it may take him a while, since he tends to over think more than your sister.”
“I can’t even imagine that.”
“Nor I.” Liam pressed his fingers into the corners of his eye and sighed. “I need to update Sanjeeta anyway, I’ll ask her to reach out and press the urgency.”
“All right. I’m going to monitor the apartment feed from the shuttle so we don’t slow Aime down,” he said, rising from the leather chair and moving to the exit. “Let me know the instant she comes back with a person or location.”
Liam teleported to the hub and sat down in the warm chair. He kept Aime on audio only so she had more computing power for the trace, and quickly checked the MIND work queue to see if there was anything he’d missed.
Satisfied the second part of the plan was in motion, Liam reviewed the notes Val and Theo added to phase three. He noticed Valtor uploaded a file labeled Dina. When he tried to access it, a password box came up. Frowning, he shut down the queue, forcing his mind not to think about the reason the elder Ranger would have such a file in the cloud.
Avoiding the obvious, Liam picked up his Netphone and typed a quick message to Sanjeeta asking her to call when she was free. While he and the team enjoyed the woman’s company, she didn’t seem ready to volunteer more of her time to the group without Caelum present. He understoo
d her apprehension, with the exception of Hinta, they were all strangers to her, powerful, alien strangers.
His phone beeped with a video chat request, so he asked Aime to put it on the hanging monitor. Sanjeeta’s face popped onto the screen. Her eyes seemed weary, but she had a slight smile on her mouth.
“Hello,” he said.
“Hi, I got your message, everything okay?”
“An update, someone accessed Valtor’s file in the unit, we’ve begun the trace and phase two.”
“Hyper monitoring,” she said, nodding. “Good timing. Mrs. Allen called me yesterday, the police have pretty much given up on looking for Marjorie. We’re all she’s got left now.”
“I’m hopeful something will come of this plan, perhaps not everything, but it may lead us in the right direction. Marjorie is Valtor’s top priority.”
“Thank you. Have you heard from Caelum?” she asked as her face fell.
He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I was going to ask the same and see if you’d try reaching out again. Lexa isn’t getting through either and we can use his help.”
Her heavy sigh filled the base. “Every few hours I try to make him hear me…”
“We think you have the best chance of making contact.”
“I should be. That’s why I’m so worried. I’ll be home soon and give it my best.”
“Thanks, and I’ll keep you updated should anyone approach Valtor and Zila.”
“I appreciate that, Liam,” she replied with a nod. “And if there’s anything else I can do to help, please let me know.”
“I will, you have my word.”
Sanjeeta attempted a smile before cutting the chat off. Liam rubbed his forehead as he tried to concentrate on the hub screen, to view the early results of the scan. Just as Lexa had predicted, whoever accessed Valtor’s file did so through the internet access portal the unit had for its remote locations. Aime pinpointed the location breach, and Liam was happily surprised to see it came from California and not New Jersey where they uploaded the information. Most of the agents in the Jersey unit had been handpicked by Theo, Duncan, or Connor after Duncan left to form the MIND team. He found a tiny bit of good news to share with the others.
