“For how long? Because they kind of opened the chaos door when they killed Michael.” Her voice broke on his name, and a hand flew to her mouth. Her body shook, slowly at first, then in fits.
“Trevor, I killed him,” she got out between sobs. Her face grew red, and she slapped a hand over her mouth like it’d stop the crying. “I stood there… and d-did nothing. They k-killed him right in front of me.”
I wrapped my arms around her, careful to avoid her burn, and held her tight. My chin found a home on her good shoulder. I cupped the back of her head, holding her to me, hoping she’d find any strength I had left and use it as her own. “No, Thompson killed him. You didn’t hurt anyone.”
“I was there. I let them kill him without saying a single word. All these stupid powers, and I did nothing.” She pulled back, and what I saw in her eyes nearly killed me. Guilt. Guilt that ran so deep it stained her soul. “Michael might still be alive if I hadn’t egged on Thompson. He could still be here.” Her face tightened, tears streaming relentlessly. I brushed them away with my thumbs. “He’s dead, Trevor. He’s dead.”
“It’s okay,” I said, still wiping away every new tear. “It’s going to be okay.”
After the sobs had stopped and the burn medicine had taken full effect, I’d snuck to my quarters to grab a letter from my mother. A logo in the same design as Chelsea’s burn had been printed in the top left corner. I returned to Chelsea on quick, but weighted, feet. If I showed her this, if Chelsea reacted to the letter, I’d have to explain everything.
I pushed open the door to her quarters and sat next to her on the bed.
“Trevor, I don’t know about this,” she said, leaning away. “He said they were Lemurian, and that this mark was meant to keep me under control.”
“They told you about Lemuria?” Did he tell her the truth Valerie had twisted? As far as I knew, Valerie and Thompson talked about the war, not why they wanted SeaSatellite5. Not that Valerie and I got placed here in case we found Link Pieces. From what I knew, Chelsea only had half the story. And a warped half at that.
“I don’t get it. Even if Lemuria is real, Atlantis and Lemuria wouldn’t have existed at the same time. But then he said something about time travel…”
“I don’t know either,” I lied and held the paper out to her. “Touch a finger to it.”
Chelsea eyed the letter like it would jump up and attack her. “Why?”
“Because I want to see something.” If the letterhead was a mark meant to deter Atlanteans, then I would tell her the truth.
“Fine.” She touched her fingers to the letter and they immediately sizzled and smoked. She recoiled, flinging her hand away. “Shit!” She waved her hand in front of her face. Her fingers scorched bright scarlet. “What was that?”
I couldn’t form words. Thompson had burned her, sealed away something inside of her. Probably her Atlantean powers. He might’ve even taken them away for good.
Her eyes darted from mine to the letter faster than a humming birds’ wings. “You… you don’t just work with them, do you? You’re related to them.” She pointed to the letter. “Are you kidding me?”
Hesitation stopped me from answering right away. I knew I had no choice. “Thompson and his guys work for my parents. Valerie, too. I chose not to side with them a long time ago. That’s why I ran to Boston. I don’t believe in what they do.”
“But they’re family.”
“Some, yeah. Others are relatives so distant, it doesn’t matter.”
“But you let them take the station.” She looked down to her burn. “You knew they wanted it. Since when?”
“Chels—”
“Oh, my god,” she said and stood. “This all started with the outpost, didn’t it? Thompson killed Michael over an artifact he said was Atlantean. Was a… a Link Piece or something.” Her mouth opened wider with all the words she left unsaid. I didn’t need to hear them.
“I didn’t know they’d take SeaSatellite5,” I told her. “I wasn’t sure they’d actually come at all. Chelsea, this isn’t the time for this conversation. We need to figure out how to end this.”
She gritted her teeth, her next words a growl. “But you knew. You knew this entire time that we’d found something more than Atlantean. Something greater.” She paused, her brow furrowing around narrowed eyes. “That’s why you were so anxious in the outpost and around the weird wardrobe. You know that really is?”
“Maybe, but—”
“No! I can’t believe this. You sold us the hell out.”
I rose in a quick motion, swiping the air at the same time. “No. Valerie told them about the artifacts. I didn’t. I haven’t worked for them in months, and when I did, it wasn’t willingly. My parents—” I didn’t want to talk about this. “They oppose what Atlantis stood for, and they have a plan to destroy Atlantis at all costs. To use the military’s resources to find all possible Link Pieces and build a path to the city through time.”
She shook her head, biting her lip. “So… what? Atlantis and Lemuria still exist? They’re… at war? And I’m important to it?”
“Yes. But it’s complicated, and I don’t know all the answers. You have to believe me.”
She didn’t. The blame for the hijacking and Michael’s death gyred in her eyes, fueling a spiral of darkness that twisted my lungs and tangled my gut. It was over. This. Us. Even if we survived this, our relationship wouldn’t. Because I tried protecting her the same way I’d tried with Abby—by lying—and I’d never learned that lesson.
“All I know is that Lemuria wants Atlantis wiped out, and that they’re willing to do anything to see that happen,” I continued. “I got caught up in it, but I ran to Boston to get away from it all. I don’t agree with what they’re doing. At all.”
“And how do you plan on getting us out of this?” she asked.
“Help is coming.” We just had to wait it out until TAO got here. “Until then, you and I need to work together the best we can. We’re the only ones who know what’s going on right now.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, her next words slicked with sarcasm. “Us and Dr. Hill, I’m assuming. Mr. I-Can-Read-Atlantean.”
“Yes.” No more point in lying.
She considered me for a long moment, her eyes softening. “Fine. But my powers are out of commission.”
I nodded and pointed to her mark. “I know. That’s why Thompson burned you.” I risked a step toward her. She didn’t retreat, so I wrapped my arms around her. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too,” she whispered, and it fucking broke my heart. No matter what happened next, this was a black mark on our relationship forever.
“I don’t understand, but I’m sorry you didn’t think I was capable of handling the truth,” she said.
“Chelsea, I—”
“No,” she spoke into my shoulder. “We can figure us out after we get out of this alive. Until then, I’m willing to set it aside. Can you?”
“I’m willing to do anything that will save the crew.” And if it meant dying for them, too, I’d do it. “Anything.”
She relaxed into my arms, and I rubbed her back. I inhaled the smell of her shampoo in case it was the last time, ran my hand through her hair so I’d remember how it felt—soft and full. If this was the end of us or me, then so be it as long as she was safe.
“Can you fix whatever’s blocking my powers?” she asked.
“Maybe. It’s a combination of that seal he burned into your skin and malfunctions with Humming Bird.” I paused for a moment, thinking it through. “I can probably get Humming Bird adjusted next time Thompson drags me to the Bridge, but I don’t know what to do about that burn.”
Chelsea looked down at her collarbone. “You’re saying I have to get rid of it?”
I shrugged. “I honestly don’t know, Chelsea. I don’t know how that stuff works.”
She locked eyes with me. “If you can fix Humming Bird, I’ll do what I can, whatever I have to, to take care of the rest. I—”
/>
The door to her quarters burst open. Chelsea and I jumped apart as Thompson and two of his guys stormed the room. I reached behind me and tugged the gun Freddy gave me out of my waistband.
Chelsea gasped. “What the hell?”
Before I even had the safety off, Thompson gathered fire in his palm and shot a ball at me. It soared, seeking out the gun like a bird of prey might snatch a rat, and knocked the pistol out of my hands.
“What the hell is going on in here?” he demanded.
I stepped in front of Chelsea, the last small measure of protection I thought she’d accept from me. “I gave her medicine for her burn,” I said.
“She’ll heal. You won’t. Get him out of here,” Thompson ordered his men, waving the gun around. “If you leave your quarters without permission again, I kill another crew member.”
I held up my hands in defeat as they marched me to my room. I didn’t bother looking back.
Chelsea
ensions skyrocketed after Trevor had been yanked from my room. With Valerie no longer trusted to be my guard, Georgie accompanied me everywhere. The only time I had to myself was when either of us went to the bathroom. I used it to hack into the communications system again via Emma’s instructions, to update the Admiral on my and Trevor’s plan.
Hour after hour passed as I waited for Trevor to lift whatever held my powers down. I sat in my quarters, on the Bridge, on the dinning decks—wherever Georgie wanted me. Trevor’s radio silence near killed me. My eyes darted to every clock I could find, watching the minutes tick by as I waited, trying to figure out how to get rid of the Lemurian seal Thompson had burned into my skin.
That’s when I looked at the mirror in the bathroom off my quarters and cringed. Thoughts swarmed my mind—hopeful, painful thoughts— as I took what was left of my guitar case and smashed the mirror with it. Seven years of bad luck, here we go. As long as it gave me back my powers and got us the hell out of here, I didn’t care.
I’d gripped a large shard of glass tight between my fingers and stared at my reflection, at the nasty-as-hell burn mark. Did I need to cut away the whole thing, or just disturb the mark?
Thompson had made it sound like he really needed my powers intact, but that he didn’t want me to have them right now. If that was the case… what were the odds that this mark to block my powers was temporary? If it was, disturbing it should enough, right?
I took a deep breath, counted to ten, and prayed this would work. I brought the glass shard down onto my tortured, still-burning skin, and sliced open a gash in a vertical line down the Lemurian seal. God, it hurt so bad. Like the seal was being seared from my skin. All the pain from the actual burning swam back into focus, but I swallowed it down, finished the deed, and dressed the new injury as best I could.
It bled a lot. It re-angered the wound. But when warmth rippled up my arms an hour later, followed by goose bumps, I knew it’d been worth it. That it had worked. Like sunshine on a rainy day, my powers returned to me. Light and uplifting and warm. My powers were back. For how long, I wasn’t sure. I thought of Trevor, of his kiss and his embrace, the safety I felt around him, and—
A cord snapped taut inside me, narrowing my vision. I teleported onto the Bridge next to Trevor and spun around, gathering water from the air—unaware that was even a source option.
Was this the super soldier part of me that Thompson was so scared of?
Up, like a hydra, my arms went, trailing large waves of water from seemingly nowhere. They knocked one of Thompson’s men unconscious and soaked stations that fizzed and shorted out. I grunted through the pain in my shoulder and chest. I’d never been this powerful, this in control. It was like before in the artifact room; this wasn’t me. This was the Atlantean soldier inside of me that Thompson wanted.
Flames descended on my waves, dousing them, then flew at me. I ducked and tried responding but my untrained powers failed me. Thompson’s flames danced around me, caging me in heat and flashes until his hand clamped around my arm and the show ended.
No one moved an inch. Thompson’s men had fallen on various members of SeaSat5’s crew during the display; they hadn’t even gotten a chance to act on my distraction. No.
Searing pain scorched the skin around my burn wound. “Fuck!” I shouted.
Thompson growled as he examined my wound. The cut I’d made. “What did you do?”
“Ended your stupid seal crap,” I snarled.
He yanked me forward a foot. His cheeks grew an impressive shade of red and purple. Maybe he’d stroke himself out, so we could retake the station before the Admiral’s soldiers got here. “I thought you were going to cooperate.”
“Cooperate, yes,” I said through gritted teeth. “Completely surrender? I don’t think so.”
But even as I said it, I felt my power fade. Someone had re-adjusted Humming Bird to block my powers again.
Thompson wrapped his other large hand around my forearm and pulled it behind me. I yelped and cussed. The motion stretched the skin around my wound, tearing healed portions and setting the rest on fire. Blood seeped from the cut I’d made with the glass from my mirror.
Freddy’s venomous words filled the Bridge. “Hit her again, I dare you.”
From the opposite corner of the Bridge, at Communications, Weyland’s jaw muscles clenched. The both of them would be killed if they acted on Freddy’s threat.
“I’ll do you one better.” Thompson held his hand out to one of his thugs, who reached into their pocket and pulled out a syringe.
Get out now. I squinted my eyes, trying to refocus and gain control of my teleportation through the haze of electromagnetic field fluctuations and the burn mark. Again, we stood apart. Again, nothing.
My eyes darted to Trevor’s, beseeching. He only shook his head, sadness darkening his eyes. He had tried but couldn’t fix it for good, couldn’t keep them from overriding his fixes. Thompson handed me off to the thug while he filled the vial. I fought against his hold the best I could, but to no avail.
“Don’t!” Trevor shouted. His eyes bugged with anger as he stood from his station, a storm of blue and green unlike anything I’ve seen before. “She was following orders!”
“Not the ones I gave.” He trained his eyes on me. “You know what this is.”
A statement. Not a question.
“Please,” I begged. My life could end right here, right now. I didn’t sign up for this—any of this. A hijacking, finding Atlantis. All I’d wanted was a job after graduation, and Trevor. And now, my love for both would kill me.
“Goodnight, then,” Thompson snarled. He bared my neck. I kicked out at him, hitting him square in the groin. He dropped, cursing.
“Goodnight yourself!” I hissed.
His thug shifted his grip on me, yanking both of my hands behind me and slamming his free hand around my mouth. His ability to fling me about like a ragdoll rolled nausea through my stomach.
Thompson stood, cracked his neck, and then closed in on me. “I will enjoy this, you little bitch.”
My eyes widened at the sight of the needle so close. This was it. No! No!
Trevor ran toward me. Someone tackled him to the ground. I saw Freddy and Weyland also move, but the needle pierced my skin before they could take more than a few steps. It slid through skin and tissue right into my veins.
The liquid spilled into my body. I felt each drop as it left the syringe. I waited for it. For the convulsing, the pain. For the end. I closed my eyes, fearing the worst. Moments slid by, slow at first but quickening. When I reopened my eyes, I found a grinning Thompson, a tearful Trevor, and the other two stopped dead in their tracks.
Thompson laughed heartedly. “If you could see yourself right now!”
His thug let me go. I stumbled a few feet and then swung at Thompson. He caught my punch and pushed me backwards.
Thompson’s mouth contorted into an evil grin, spanning to either cheekbone. “Of course you’re still alive—what super soldier wouldn’t be?”
&nbs
p; My head spun, fear and the remnants of Thompson’s poison making the world blur and dance. I took a step toward a console and leaned against it. My insides churned.
“Bring the Captain in so he can witness the fate of his crew,” Thompson said.
My skin chilled and slicked with sweat as the poison attempted to work its way through my system. My face remained feverishly warm. The poison wasn’t killing me. It was throwing a rave in my body, contaminating my blood but not finishing the deed.
A memory of an empty bottle of tequila surfaced. I could drink a whole bottle myself. Poison and alcohol were both toxins. But if it took a whole bottle of tequila to get me worse than tipsy, what the hell was this poison that it had me almost on the ground?
“Don’t worry,” Thompson cooed. “It’ll make your world spin, but it’s not enough to kill you, soldier.”
The Bridge doors opened. Two guards escorted Captain Marks inside. At least two-thirds of Thompson’s crew now haunted the room. Except Valerie. Ever-present for all the other big moments of the last twenty-four hours, she was now suspiciously absent. My stomach rolled again.
I was still half-bent over a console when the Captain finally spoke. “What did you do to her?”
“She’ll be fine,” Thompson said. “Here’s the part where we make a deal. I need your satellite station and all the artifacts downstairs—and the girl.”
“Piss off!” the words left my mouth before I could stop them. I braced myself for another attack. It didn’t come.
“Why Chelsea?” the Captain asked calmly.
Thompson’s men had guns trained on the Captain’s Head of Security and his top Navigation and Analytics Officer. Two of his youngest civilian crewmembers stood directly in the line of fire. Pawns, doomed for death in this ridiculous game. His was a position I wished never to be in.
“Her power,” Thompson said. “What Ms. Danning is, regardless of inexperience, is of interest to my employers. The poison was for show, but I will not risk her any further. She is the key, one of the last soldiers in existence. They are the few who can read the Waterstar map in its entirety.”
Gyre (Atlas Link Series Book 1) Page 25
