by Meg Xuemei X
The warriors swept into Ghost House, forming a U shape with Lucienne in the center. Some of them had battled Seraphen with her in Nirvana’s valley, and this place used to be Seraphen’s lair. They knew what was at stake.
The shadows cast by the flashlights gave discarded robots a sinister look. Lucienne turned left down a corridor cluttered with shiny machine junk before making another left turn. Her escorts followed in sync.
For heaven’s sake, she sighed. Before this trip, she knew Kian briefed the men and granted them immunity from disobeying her orders if she risked herself.
The sound of metal clanking pierced the house. Lucienne’s heart pounded. Had the robots come alive at last? She swirled toward the noise, two guns in her hands in an instant—one of them an Armatix pistol, a gift from Vladimir. She hadn’t disposed of it. It was better to keep it on hand to remind herself never to be charmed by good-looking guys. That included Ashburn.
Shake out of it, she told herself sternly. She was facing a possible robot attack, and her mind was dwelling on boys?
The warriors in the outer layer spread out to locate the threat while the soldiers in the inner level tightened the circle around her.
Next, they might push me to the ground and cover me, and I might just die of asphyxiation. Her thought flitted to her old team: Orlando, Cam, Lucas, Duncan and Vladimir. Though they protected her above all others, they also treated her like one of them—a warrior of worth.
The flashlights darted toward the source of the hoarse sound.
“Don’t shoot before you see the target!” Lucienne called. “Ashburn is inside.”
A blur of movements sprang by a pile of disposed robots under arched cathedral ceilings, darting between light and shade.
The warriors let out a blast of bullets that ricocheted off the machines to flush out whatever was there.
“A wild cat.” Marloes spotted the animal before anyone else did.
Trapped in the intense light, the feline stared ahead, its golden body arched and still. Then it howled and fled.
The soldiers didn’t relax. They fell back into their former formation around Lucienne until she led them to a magnificent, ice-like pillar—the exterior fortress of the Rabbit Hole.
It was seven feet long and seven feet wide, stretching from ceiling to floor. Even Lucienne’s top-notch archaeological scanner couldn’t identify its material when she first came here to seek out Ashburn.
She strolled toward the double-crescent moon lock ingrained on one side of the pillar. Between the moons was the image of an alien female with silver eyes, pointed ears, and a map of a star system on her forehead.
Before Lucienne reached for the lock, Marloes stepped in front of her. “Let me take care of it, Siren.”
“It’ll shock you and anyone who touches it,” Lucienne said. “Except me.”
“Let’s see,” Marloes said.
Marloes is new to this ancient technology, Lucienne thought. She doesn’t believe me, just like the rest of the new guards. Let her have a little taste of its power.
As soon as Marloes slid her hand over the lock, a dark lightning bolt from the pillar sent her flying. The captain collapsed onto a soldier behind her. The impact threw them both to the ground. The soldier groaned.
Finley shot the lock with his gun. It remained intact.
Lucienne folded her arms across her chest and watched.
“It won’t open,” said a soldier. He had been with Orlando when Lucienne had been trapped inside the Rabbit Hole. “We tried everything last time. It opens only from the inside.”
“Then how do we get in?” Finley asked.
“Touch the lock and inform the host politely,” Lucienne said.
That was how Seraphen came out to meet her. She thought the Rabbit Hole referred to a portal into a different world, like in Alice in Wonderland, but Seraphen used the phrase “boundless in the extremities of time, immeasurable in its capacity, perpetual in its own right.”
“Captain Marloes touched it, and it shocked her,” Finley said.
Marloes got up. From her sour look, Lucienne knew that the shock must have hurt like hell.
“The electricity increases each time anyone touches the pillar,” an older soldier said. “It almost electrocuted one of us last time.”
Lucienne approached the lock.
“Siren,” Marloes said, “I’d have a broken rib or two if I hadn’t worn impact suits. If anything happens to you—”
Lucienne pressed her palm on the image of the alien. A light wave of electricity crept up her arm.
Her soldiers were in positions to catch her.
“Ash,” she announced, “it’s Lucienne.” Then she waited.
Marloes gave Lucienne an appraising look.
A hiss of air came from the pillar as the lock transformed into an interface that flowed like liquid inside the frame. As the interface rose to the top of the column, a translucent door that hadn’t been there before opened. A soft glow from inside the Rabbit Hole outlined a figure.
Ashburn in black T-shirt and loose trousers appeared at the door. His eyes were bloodshot, his lips chapped, and his sweat-soaked hair clung to his pale face. “Lucia,” he murmured, “what are you doing here? Why did you bring your soldiers?” He shook his head as if confused. “I need to go back to sleep.” He turned, but his knees buckled.
Lucienne was at his side in an instant, catching him. Marloes and Adam stepped onto the unseen platform too, helping her prop up Ashburn.
“Let’s get out!” Lucienne ordered urgently. The memory of sinking to the bottomless abyss and then being tossed like a rag doll by Seraphen was still raw.
As soon as the guards half carried, half dragged Ashburn out of the entrance of the Rabbit Hole, the lock descended from the top, sealing the pillar.
Lucienne placed her hand on Ashburn’s forehead, feeling for a fever. As soon as she touched him, pleasure surged into her. She jerked back her hand, totally disgusted with herself. Ash is burning up, and all you can think is how good it feels to touch him?
Ashburn snapped his head up with a longing gaze.
It’s the Lure, she realized. It didn’t care if Ashburn was half dead. The chemistry just wanted to drive them together. It would never give them a break.
“You have a fever,” she said. “I’m taking you to the Sphinxes’ clinic.”
“It won’t help,” he muttered. “No doctors can help me.”
“We’ll decide that later,” Lucienne said. “Let me take care of you.” She swallowed her fear. Violet once mentioned that Ashburn hadn’t ever been sick. What was going to happen to him now that he got this fever?
~
In Sphinxes’ infirmary, every machine read Ashburn’s temperature as normal.
“It can’t be, Dr. Wren,” Lucienne said. “Touch his skin. He’s burning up.”
“I can’t be tested,” Ashburn said, curling into a ball on the patient bed. “Tylenol or aspirin won’t help. None of your medicines will work on me.”
Dr. Wren widened his eyes. Lucienne knew that Ashburn answered the doctor’s thoughts.
“Let me sleep,” Ashburn said, his hand clasped around Lucienne’s, as if afraid she would leave.
That’s why he let me take him here instead of staying in his sanctuary. He wants to stay with me. Lucienne watched his eyelids go heavy.
“Ash.” She squeezed his hand hard, worried that if she let him close his eyes, he would never open them again. “You can’t fall asleep, not yet. If the machines can’t diagnose it, then let me know what’s wrong. Let me help.”
“It’s TimeDust,” Ashburn said. “It’s punishing me.”
“Why?” Lucienne asked.
Ashburn glanced at Dr. Wren.
“Dr. Wren,” Lucienne said, “give us a moment, please.” She then gestured for her guards to stay outside. “Captain
Marloes,” she added, “tell Kian I won’t join him until Ash is well.”
When they were alone, she perched on h
is bed. “Are you trying to remove the program?” Over his silence, she chided him, “Why do you keep trying the impossible? You caused this fever yourself.”
“TimeDust has become more aggressive. It’s losing patience. It’s been pushing me harder.”
With his eyes shut, Ashburn looked younger and less troubled. Lucienne suppressed an urge to trace the hollow under his eyes and erase the bluish circles. “To do what?”
Ashburn snapped open his eyes. Dark shades of gray surrounded the redness in them. “It’s been pushing me to have you.” He looked at her in shame. “It wants me to take you by force if you don’t comply.”
Lucienne opened her mouth, then closed it, speechless. Would Ash ever do that to her? Would she have the strength to fight him one of those days when her lust for him overpowered her will?
“You must be disgusted with me,” Ashburn said.
“You don’t need to tell me this,” she said, “but you’re open with me. And I know the aggressive side comes from TimeDust. So, no, I’m not disgusted with you.”
“It’s become part of me,” Ashburn said, grudgingly.
“You’re still in control,” Lucienne said. “You’ve never acted on that dark urge. You’re respectful toward me. It has failed.”
“You’re wrong, Lucia. I have failed because I followed you here.”
He had come with her because TimeDust made him, not because he had feelings for her. Lucienne didn’t know why she felt hurt. What did she expect?
“And worse, it isn’t just the Lure,” Ashburn said, struggling to sit up. Lucienne learned forward to help him. By doing so, she collected him into her arms. He buried his face in her hair, whispering, “I want you more than anything. I want you so much that I want to get rid of anyone in the way. And then I’ll blame the Lure for the consequences.”
He did want her, regardless of the Lure. Thrill and delight zipped around Lucienne’s heart while fear lounged at her feet.
“Those dark thoughts terrify me,” Ashburn said with a ragged breath. “I’ll not be a murderer. I won’t allow TimeDust to hurt you. I must disable it.” He lifted his face and sat shoulder to shoulder with her. His knuckles were white as he tried to refrain from going near her again, as if moving one inch closer would overthrow his willpower altogether and make him attack her.
The Lure was right there with them.
Lucienne drew a sharp breath and exhaled slowly, ignoring the agony of resisting the need to crawl onto his lap. “And to break the bond between us?” she asked.
“I want the bond, but not from TimeDust,” he said. “I don’t need it to fall for you. Once it’s gone, we’ll never need to worry about its terrible purpose. If you choose me, there’ll be no fear of the consequences of us being together.”
She had suffered enough of the Lure and its punishment, but knew that once Ashburn removed TimeDust, her only ride to Eterne would fall off the track. She still believed the code to open the portal to Eterne was locked inside TimeDust within him.
“Will you stop hurting yourself by trying something that silly and futile?” she said.
“I gotta keep trying.” Ashburn coughed. “I have everything to lose while it possesses me.”
“When it’s gone, you’ll lose your powers.”
“Why do I need these powers?” Ashburn’s red-rimmed eyes narrowed at Lucienne. “For all the trouble they caused me? For the unbearable memories of billions of strangers?”
Lucienne was more than willing to bear the burdens. She would dance with the devil to get to the finish line. Ironically, TimeDust brushed her aside and chose an unwilling receiver.
“Forget it for now,” she said. “We need to reduce your fever. I can’t let you burn up.”
“A fever won’t stop me,” Ashburn said.
Lucienne wasn’t willing to test whether he would burn out like a supercomputer. It was time to put things in perspective. “To die trying won’t do you any good,” she said sharply. “You aren’t powerful or knowledgeable enough to eradicate TimeDust. So stop whining and deal with it. I’m sorry some force tricked you and set you on a path that isn’t to your liking, but your former life wasn’t exactly awesome either. You lived in lies for seventeen years. Clement and Peder aren’t even your biological parents. Though they raised you and loved you, you were a liability to them, especially when you were wheelchair-bound. Their lives in that community are better off without you. Nirvana folks still fear and hate you. As cruel as it sounds, that’s reality. What kind of future would you have in that town if the Eye of Time didn’t pick you, didn’t force you to change course, and didn’t shed its light through in you? You were trapped in the backwoods and treated like a second-class citizen. Is that the kind of life you’re dying to go back to?”
Ashburn blinked, then his eyes brightened. But he still grunted, for the sake of being stubborn, “So I should be happy to trade one kind of bad for another kind of bad?”
“There’s a whole new world ahead of you,” Lucienne said. “If you can’t move the mountain, go around it. You can’t remove TimeDust, but you can rewrite it. Create your own reality. We’ll do it together.” Light gleamed in her eyes. “You and me.”
Ashburn stared at her, seemingly more drawn to her lips than to her passionate words.
Lucienne touched his hot hand. “TimeDust—despite whatever terrible agenda it has—also brought us together. I’m not sorry that we met.”
Ashburn turned his hand over and curled his fingers around hers. “I’m not sorry either.”
The Lure expanded between them, pleased.
“Whenever you’re in a dark place,” Lucienne said, “know that you’re not alone.” She saw hope ignite in his eyes. “I might not be able to give you what you’re looking for, but I’ll always be there for you.”
The fire dwindled in Ashburn’s eyes. “I’m not asking anything from you,” he said. Then he didn’t seem to have enough energy to converse and fell back in bed.
At midnight, Lucienne left reluctantly at the insistence of Dr. Wren, the nurses, and the guards.
Nurse Mary hooked Ashburn to an IV and promised a 24/7 close monitor on him.
The next morning when Lucienne came to check on him, Ashburn’s body had turned dark red, as if fire was running underneath his skin.
She immediately called Dr. Wren. The doctor arrived with Dr. Christophersen at his heels.
“Dr. Wren, you must cool him down!” she ordered. “Or he’s—he’s going to—”
“We have the test results,” Dr. Wren said.
“Ashburn Fury’s double helix is unique,” Dr. Christophersen said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I need time to study the case.”
“Ashburn isn’t a science project, Dr. Christophersen,” Lucienne said.
“Dr. Christophersen meant a cure,” Dr. Wren said. “We need time to find a cure.”
“How long will it take?”
Neither the geneticist nor the physician would promise anything.
“This abnormal-human genetic case is the first—” Dr. Christophersen said.
“Ash is a normal human,” Lucienne cut in, “only more advanced. You need to get that right.”
Dr. Wren sighed. “We’ll have to let his fever run its course while we work on the treatment.”
“What if the fever fries his brain?” Lucienne bit her lip, watching Nurse Mary change icepacks on Ashburn. “I’ll take a vial of Ash’s blood sample to Dr. Schmidt.”
“You can’t be serious,” Dr. Christophersen said. “Schmidt is notorious! He has ties with several terrorist groups.”
More accurately, Dr. Schmidt was infamous for manipulating genetic mutation—the Catholic Church openly condemned him for cloning human embryos—but he was no doubt the best geneticist in the world. Lucienne had heard horror stories about Schmidt using living humans, drawn from the poor and the underprivileged, as test subjects.
“He’s a bad egg.” Dr. Wren nodded an agreement. “You can’t trust him, Lucia.”
> “He might be the only one who can help Ash,” Lucienne said.
“I can help Mr. Fury,” Dr. Christophersen said. “I just need more time.”
“We don’t have more time,” Lucienne said. “I’ll bring back the diagnosis and solutions.”
“Bring me with you then, if you have to go,” Dr. Christophersen said.
“That’s unnecessary,” Lucienne said. “I’ll be careful.” She didn’t want Schmidt to have more information on Ash than necessary, should Dr. Christophersen’s tongue slip.
Let me out, Siren. I can help him.
Lucienne felt a tingling sensation in her head. The Eye of Time, she realized. The necklace around her neck grew heavy.
How? she asked.
Free me and you will see.
Last time I freed you, you made him scream, Lucienne said drily.
Pain is necessary on the path to greatness. You of all people can testify to that. Release me and I will take away his fever.
Tell me how you’ll do it, Lucienne insisted.
You will need me to connect to his nerve system.
He won’t like it, Lucienne said.
It does not matter if he likes it. Ashburn Fury is more isolated than ever. He has nowhere to run. He will comply. Let me heal him, and you can unlock the code.
It made her blood run cold to see that the Eye of Time was so desperate to link to Ashburn, though it provided a logical solution. All she needed to do was let it out for a little while, and she would obtain the code. Ash’s fever would break. But what would the final upload do to Ashburn? His scream from the last time still haunted her nightmares.
Her heart thundering, Lucienne pulled the charm from under her flowery dress. The locket was warm from her skin, its weight both a burden and comfort. She breathed shallowly, her finger caressing the pin. Just one push and she would have what she wanted.
He’ll blame me when he recovers, Lucienne said. He’ll never trust me again.
He will only be grateful, Siren, said the Eye. His bond with you will be deeper than ever, for he will be different—a new species. He will not resist us anymore.
A new species? Chill and excitement made Lucienne shudder. She turned to look at Ashburn, his eyes closed, his face an unhealthy scarlet, and his fate in her hands. A new species. A new beginning. A quantum plane with new promises.
