by Tenaya Jayne
I can show you what you’re doing wrong with that cube. You haven’t even activated the heart of the second interior. Did you not see it?
There was an awkward silence after Rahaxeris told Merhl what she signed. Merhl looked between her and the cube, twice, his brow furrowed. “Are you sure that’s what she said?”
“Quite. Do you know what she’s talking about?”
“No, I mean I do, but there is no second interior, let alone a heart.”
Tesla began signing at top speed, her eyes bright. He can’t see it! It will work, but it won’t work very well, if the heart isn’t activated. You need to let me handle this!
Rahaxeris didn’t translate this time. “I want to trust you, but how do I know you really know what you’re talking about? There’s too much riding on this. I need proof first.”
She wrung her hands and cast her eyes around the room. She grabbed Merhl’s notes from the side of the table. He had an intricate x-ray type sketch of the cube on the top page. She laid the paper in front of her and slapped her hand flat over the drawing. Snaking red electric snaps hit the paper all around her hand.
She pulled her hand away and held the drawing up for them to see. The sketch lifted off the paper like a 3-D hologram. She touched it lightly with her index finger, and it opened a layer that Merhl had never drawn. She pointed to a small line and then flicked it with her finger and thumb. It broke open, showing them the heart of the second interior.
The color drained from Merhl’s face. “How could I have missed that?” He picked up the cube and made to hand it to Tesla.
Rahaxeris grabbed his wrist. She looked furiously at him.
“I need more, Tesla. Just a bit more.”
Her hands lit up. He recognized the motion, but before he could reach to stop her, she put her hands on her chest, filling the air with a fog of electricity.
“Stop, Tesla! No!” he shouted.
“What is this?” Merhl asked.
“She’s aging herself.”
“What?”
“Help me!”
He put his hands on the barrier around her, Merhl followed his example. They pushed a hole through it, and the fog vanished in an electric snap. Tesla lay on the floor, twice as tall as she had been. Now she resembled a twelve-year-old.
Her eyes snapped open when her grandfather touched her.
“Why?” he shouted at her. “Almost your whole childhood is gone now! Just because you’re impatient to be taken seriously.”
She stood and stretched her arms, looking down at herself, completely composed and seemingly indifferent to her grandfather’s anger. Her clothes were torn and scorched. Again, her beauty had grown with her. She pulled her feet out of her torn shoes.
“Merhl, please get some clothes for her from the closet over there. I think there’s a spare lab coat.”
Merhl rushed over with the lab coat, catching a glimpse of the top of the red flower shape over her heart. He gaped at her.
She looked back at him questioningly. He pointed at it.
“What else can you do?”
She smiled and walked a few steps away from her grandfather. She reached down, grabbed the edge of nothing, and tore it open. Merhl could see the ripple in the air, and then she vanished behind it like a curtain.
Rahaxeris rolled his eyes and threw up his hands in exasperation. “Oh great. She’s a world jumper.”
“Do you know what this means?” Merhl asked.
“Yeah. Forest is going to kill me… Can you see where she went?”
Merhl walked over to the invisible tear and looked at it closely. “Clever girl,” he murmured. “She went to Polyhedron. She didn’t even break the strata, she just slid through it.”
Rahaxeris ground his teeth together. “I’ll give her three minutes, then I’m going after her.”
Merhl chuckled. “Didn’t realize you’d enjoy being a grandfather this much? You’ve got your hands full.”
“Yeah. I realize the benefits of not being a family man, only after it’s too late.”
The air shivered, and Tesla stepped back into the room, her hair windblown. She was holding a small grey cube in the palm of her hand, a triumphant look on her face. She put it down on the table next to the other one.
This cube is not the same, but I will show you what I can do with it. She signed adamantly. After Merhl looks it over and discovers all he can about it.
Rahaxeris sighed and crossed his arms, translating to Merhl.
Merhl looked the cube over once before opening its seamless exterior skin. He couldn’t see the purpose of this cube, but he turned it on, twisting its core in a full circle. Blue light began glowing in the corners. Green characters pulsed on the sides. Merhl’s fingers stilled. He pulled his hands back and wrapped the cube in a bubble of energy.
He looked at Rahaxeris. “It’s a bomb.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes!”
“Tesla! Did you know that’s what that was?”
She nodded nonchalantly.
The cube exploded inside the bubble.
“What did that prove?” Rahaxeris demanded.
She walked over to the table and popped the energy bubble with her fingertip as easily as if it were a soap bubble. Smoke and broken machine parts fell out. She flexed her fingers and began reassembling the cube. In less than thirty seconds, it was back together, unburned, and seemingly unused. She held it up for them to see. Then the cube levitated off her palm and dangled in the air over her hand. A lightning snake emerged from the center of her palm and slithered through the skin of the cube. The red light ran a circuit, twisting up from the bottom to the top, and then vanished. She handed the cube back to Merhl.
What can you see now?
Rahaxeris crowded next to Merhl, desperate to see, as he opened the cube again. The whole interior was different than before. Merhl touched it in a few places, but he realized quickly what she’d done, and he closed it again before he activated it.
“Well?” Rahaxeris demanded.
Merhl gaped at Tesla. He gave her a little bow before turning to Rahaxeris. “Not only did she repair it, remake it actually, she turned it into a weapon ten times as strong as it had been originally…I don’t want to relinquish the work on the tesseract to her, but I need her help.” He turned back to her. “I certainly mean you no disrespect, but…”
She smiled and shook her head. You’re right. I need to help you. I am not an Ogre. I cannot create a blood lock. But I can help make it stronger.
Rahaxeris translated.
“I’ll learn sign language before you come back, miss.”
She looked down and made a strange noise. She huffed and tried again to speak. Her cheeks heated, and she looked on the verge of tears. I thought I’d grow out of this. I want to talk so badly.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart.” Rahaxeris said. “Let’s get you home. And please, tell your mother your current age was all your doing and not any fault of mine.”
Chapter Seventeen
Shreve awoke suddenly in the middle of the night. Sabra was sleeping soundly, her back nestled against his chest, her head on his arm. It was heaven and hell at the same time. He ran his hand softly up and down her arm. Why was he awake? His pulse hiccupped, choking the air in his lungs. His mortality was slapping him in the face. His heart stammered. Not long now. He just needed a few more days. That was all, just a few more. His pulse righted, but it was weaker than ever.
He tucked her hair behind her ear and kissed the side of her neck once. The dawn would bring the end of this dream he’d had of her. The tournament would end everything. If she won, when she won, she would be the new leader. Her people would need her. They would absorb her. She couldn’t be seen with him. She’d have no time for him. And he had no time left. He couldn’t afford to die out here. His blood was too important. He had to deliver it.
He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer. He had to tell her goodbye. He thought about the morning he’d first re
alized he was dying. He’d found what he was looking for. He’d found forgiveness. He’d found his face and his family. And he’d found Sabra. He loved her, and she loved him. He hadn’t expected to have even one of those things.
She sighed in her sleep and turned over, facing him. Hours passed like mere minutes while he gazed at her.
****
Sabra woke up alone. She was instantly alert. “Shreve?”
No answer. She got up and rushed outside. She almost collided into him. “Oh! There you are.”
“I’ve been to the Lair. The arena is all set. The tournament will begin soon. I’ve only just enough time to teach you something important.”
“Okay.” She tried to sound steadier than she felt. “Will you kiss me good morning first?”
He smiled and gathered her into his arms. “Good morning.” He pressed his lips so gently against hers. She pressed back harder. His touch was so sweet, but she could detect sorrow behind it.
“I never got a chance to take your other opponent’s measure, but I fear Gahu is going to be very dangerous today. When you show up, it’s going to slap at his already hurt ego. He already wants to make you pay for the humiliation you’ve caused him. He thinks this is his day to take power… When you show up, ready to fight him, he’s going to want to make an example of his dominance with you. It’s beyond personal.”
“I’m sure you’re right. What are you going to teach me?”
“If you are disarmed, you will lose your edge and be at a disadvantage. You need to call out the beast if that happens.”
“But I asked Asher about that before. He said it would take too long to shift.”
“Just shift your hands. Run from your opponent if you have to, to have enough time.”
“I’ve never tried anything like that,” she admitted.
“Try it now. We don’t have much time.”
She held her hands out and tried. As she feared, her whole body shifted, elongated and brutal. She pulled it back. “Sorry. I know that’s hideous. Please try and forget it.”
“Shut up and try again. Focus and don’t worry what you look like.”
Again she shifted her whole body. “I don’t know where to begin.”
“Close your eyes,” he ordered, taking her hands in his. “Feel your bones. Think of Gahu, what he wants to do to you. All you have is your hands. Make him pay. Show him the type of woman you are.”
She listened to his voice and envisioned the fight ahead. But it wasn’t Gahu, and what he had or would do to her that forced her hands. She thought of her mother and grandmother. She thought of the women locked in the underground, chained, beaten, and raped daily, because they had somehow displeased their men. She thought of Tucker and how he’d lost his identity under this macho ideology.
“Call it out, Sabra. Now!”
Heat shivered down her arms to her fingers.
“That’s it! Keep going!”
Her hatred of injustice lit her bones on fire as they stretched, her fingernails lengthening and hardening into claws.
“Look, you did it.”
Sabra opened her eyes. Only her hands were in beast form. “But it took so long. Even if I ran and evaded, it would take too long.”
“Turn your palms up.”
He placed his hands over her beastly ones “What are you doing?” she asked.
He jerked his hands back, so her claws raked and cut his hands.
“There. Now you won’t have to worry about it. My blood is under your fingernails. You just needed to do it once. If you need to do it again, it will be easy.”
She curled her monster hands and let them shrink back to normal. “Thank you.”
He shook his head. “It’s time for you to get ready. I’ll be watching you fight. You won’t see me though.”
“Because you’ll be invisible?”
“Yes…I have to tell you goodbye now.”
“Why? It won’t take me that long to get there. I’ll win, and I’ll see you after. I’ll tell everyone that you’re my man. I’ll be the leader. They won’t have a choice but to accept you. And you won’t have to stay out here in hiding. You’ll come live with me, at the very top of the mountain.”
“It’s a beautiful dream. One I’ll take with me. I’d give anything to have it come true.”
“It will,” she said decisively. “It’s not a dream. It will be reality in a few hours.”
“There’s no future for us.”
Hurt and anger mixed inside her. “You’re wrong! Why would you say that?! Because you can’t give me children?”
“I’m dying. I have to tell you goodbye.”
Her battered heart tore like fabric. “You’re dying.” She tried the words; they were bitter in her mouth. “How could you be dying?”
“I’ve been dying since before I met you. My DNA is deteriorating. I’m all worn out inside. I’ve not got long left.”
“But…but… If you’re dying… Why…why would you leave me? Why would you rob me of whatever time is left?”
“There’s almost none.”
“No!” She pushed him with both of her hands. “How could you abandon me like this? How?”
He grabbed her and held her as she swung at him. She hit him once in the chest as she cried out.
“Sabra, I have no choice. I want to live. Do you really think I would choose to leave you?” He tipped her chin up and kissed her. “I would never leave you. I love you.”
“Then stay. I don’t care about the tournament anymore, not if it takes our time away, not even one hour, or even one minute. Let me have every second. I don’t care about anything else.”
He shook his head sadly. “You have to build your own future with your capable hands and your indestructible heart. I have to give the last of my life for the blood lock that will protect the world.”
“You’re going to give your life for them?” She was furious.
“No. Not for them. For you. You have to live, Sabra. Promise me you will, and that you’ll thrive, and maybe from time to time you’ll remember me and that I loved you.” He touched the tear on her cheek. It clung to his fingertip. He curled his hand into a fist, her tear encased inside it. “That’s mine. It will go with me.”
“Shreve, please,” she begged. “Please.” But it was no good.
“I’ll watch you fight. Then I’ll be gone.”
Something inside her snapped. She was thrust into a reality she couldn’t change. Her heart locked down, her mind focused sharply. He was leaving her, and she couldn’t make him stay. The tournament lay at her feet, and she’d never been so ready to kill. She pushed past him, back into the hidden dwelling. He followed. She went for her knapsack. He watched in silence as she stripped down and dressed for the fight. The dark clothes clung and moved like a second skin. She laced her boots tightly and braided her hair back. Last was her belt, connected to her scabbard. She held it out to him.
He came forward and took it, wrapping it around her waist and fastening the buckle. He picked her sword up and slid it into the sheath. Slowly, he coiled her whip and fastened it to her other hip. He put his index finger in his mouth and bit down on his fingertip. He held his bleeding finger up next to her face.
“Close your eyes, Valkyrie,” he whispered.
He drew lines on her face with his finger. Ancient symbols of power and death. His blood was her war paint. There was an inferno inside her. She’d never felt anything like it. The blood pulled on her skin as it dried. She grabbed him and held on with all her might before kissing him goodbye.
“You watch. I’m going to fight for you. You’ll be proud of me. I’m going to win. And every day after, I’ll live for you. I’m never letting you go. There’ll never be anyone for me, but you. Never.”
“I’ll watch you. And then I’ll come back to haunt you.”
She kissed him again with all the passion of the fire inside her. “You better come back to haunt me. I told you where I’ll be. Don’t get lost.”
“
Go, Sabra. Claim your destiny.”
“I’ll love you forever, Shreve.”
“And I you… Forever.”
She ran from him while she could, out and through the trees, sticking to the paths. She kept her eyes forward, burning brighter and hotter with every step. Anyone in her way would die. Her opponents would die. Shreve was watching her. She’d fight with her whole heart.
Chapter Eighteen
She heard the crowd before she saw them. Everyone gathered around the main square but not in it. It had been roped off. Urhal and Gahu were already standing in the center. Samuel stood on the speaking boulder, over the crowd, shouting about the glory of their traditions and how they all hastened to have a new leader.
She pushed through the people. They parted and whispered as she passed. She didn’t hesitate when she reached the rope, she just ducked under it and walked to the center, head held high. She could feel Gahu’s murderous gaze on her, but she didn’t bother looking at him.
Samuel looked down at her, halting in his speech. She stared at him defiantly. He cleared his throat and looked away from her. “Our third champion has arrived.”
All the men in the crowd jeered at her. She didn’t bat an eye.
“As is custom, the fighters will be in order, from lowest to highest rank. Sabra and Urhal will fight first. The victor will fight Gahu. Whoever lives is the champion and will be the new pack leader. Let the tournament begin.”
The people roared and cheered. Gahu made to leave the arena, but he stopped next to her for a moment.
“If you survive this round, you’ll wish you hadn’t,” he said quietly, so only she could hear.
She smiled at him. “No, if I survive this round, you’ll wish I hadn’t.”
Rage burned in his eyes. “You look disgusting. What’s on your face?”
Her smile broadened. “The blood of my lover… Now back off. You have to wait your turn.”
With everyone’s eyes on him, he had no choice but to leave the arena.
Huge, muscled, and menacing, Urhal faced her from the other side of the square. In order to beat him, she’d have to be faster and fight dirtier. His weapons of choice were an axe and a longsword. The sun glinted off the metal as he brandished the axe first. She unhooked her whip and let the thong fall loose. He growled at her, baring his teeth. In response, she cracked her whip so loudly that many in the crowd jumped in alarm and covered their ears.
