“Today at the barn. I almost killed some good agents today, including you.”
“You didn't know.”
“I didn't listen.”
“Look, it's not your fault.”
Vincent clutched my hand. “If anything had happened to you...”
Thankfully, it wasn’t likely he could see my blush in the dim light.
I squeezed his hand in response. “I felt the same way.”
The words were barely out when he kissed me. There was no tentativeness. It was a hard, unrestrained kiss.
Chapter 20
I was wide awake as the heat built up in my body. I pulled myself into Vincent, meeting his force with my own. Deep inside, I felt connected with him as I had with no one else.
He pushed me against the wall. I pulled him against me roughly, making sure there was no space between us. We were caught up in the passion of the moment.
At least I was.
Vincent squeezed my shoulders and pushed himself away. We were both breathing heavily.
“I've wanted to do that for a while now,” Vincent said.
I grabbed his arm. “Then why stop?”
“We should wait,” he said. “I don't want anything to get in the way of fixing your soul. If we get distracted by this...”
The fact that he was right didn’t make it any easier to walk away. Something inside me wanted connection with Vincent.
***
“Cassie, hon, you gotta wake up.”
Startled from sleep, my eyes snapped open and I flung myself away. It took about two seconds before Gran's voice registered. It was still dark, but the light from the hallway illuminated her shape.
I glanced at the clock. Since I had been startled, my mind sluggishly turned, trying to catch up. “It's 3:30 in the morning?” I'm not sure if I was asking a real question, but I think it came out that way.
“I know, sweetie, but you've gotta get up and get to work.”
“Work called?” I asked, getting up to speed. After being chewed out by Barry last night, I wasn't looking forward to an early morning disaster.
“No, no, work didn't call, but you gotta go to work.” My eyes were starting to adjust to the dark. Gran rubbed her hands together anxiously. “I've already called Logan and he'll be here in a jiff. I'll meet you downstairs.”
“Gran, wait,” I said, starting to move around the room, “do you know what it is?”
“I'll meet you downstairs,” she said again, and shut my door behind her. After throwing my clothes on, I nearly ran into Vincent in the hall. For a moment, we stared at each other, the only light coming from downstairs. He touched my arm briefly before we headed downstairs. We made a beeline to the light in the kitchen. Logan was already there.
“Margaret, is everything okay?” Vincent asked.
Gran poured black coffee into a tumbler and shook her head.
“I just don't know,” Gran said. “I don't know.” She stirred up coffee with milk and sugar. “Maybe someone left the coffee maker on at work, or maybe it's something else.” She poured another steaming cup into a tumbler and added a generous amount of Hershey's syrup. “It feels like something else. Something bigger.” Gran filled a third tumbler with straight black coffee.
Logan looked in my direction. I combed my fingers through my hair as a means of brushing it. I stopped. The usual happy, always smiling Logan had a cloud over him. That made me draw up and really think about what was going on.
My clumsy early morning brain protested at being put to work. I closed my eyes and drew in a few deep breaths of air. The air tasted static. Concentrating hard, I tried to open only the smallest hint of the Path and I looked around the room. The air around Logan was empty, which was a relief. This is how his Path had looked before my soul had been damaged.
Looking over at Gran, the Path rippled and showed me a charged storm cloud clinging to her. It resisted the usual ripples and flows of the Path. Keeping a vice like hold on my concentration, I walked over to Gran. I hesitated, not wanting to get to step into the turbulence that surrounded her.
Her eyes were wide and her hands were trembling. Taking a deep breath, I took her hand, gripped it for a moment, and then held my hand a hair above her own. The atmosphere around Gran's hand presented some resistance. I pushed my energy out through my hand, expecting it to flow into Gran's aura and chase away what lurked around her. It felt like my Path hit a glass wall. Without saying anything, we both held out our other hands, this time Gran putting her hand above my own. I forced energy out with my right hand as I tried to pull in with my left. Usually, this would have created a circuit of energy flow. Anyone can create a circuit like this. It's a great way to share energy. This time, however, there was no flow.
“Gran?” There was real fear in my voice. This made Logan and Vincent pull nearer to us, but they dared not touch us.
Gran sighed and lowered her hands.
“Gran,” I said again, “you're being blocked.” I tried and failed to pull the fear out of my voice. I had never been blocked before, and to my knowledge, neither had Gran. It was as if someone had put a bubble over her.
Logan frowned and moved in. He put a hand on Gran's arm. He rested it there a moment, then squeezed her arm and pulled away.
I looked up at him, hopeful. Maybe some of his hidden elfin magic could fix things.
He frowned and shook his head at me. “I thought maybe—but no, I don't feel anything.”
“Vincent?” I pleaded.
Vincent came over and put a hand on my arm and a hand on Gran's. He shook his head and backed away.
“You've gotta go,” Gran said. She moved back over to the counter and fitted lids on our to-go cups.
“No, Gran, we have to fix this. This is—” My words tumbled away. Gran shook her head.
“It's like an itch I can't scratch, but I'm fine, sugar. You and Logan have somewhere you need to be.”
It felt wrong. Deep in my heart and head, it felt wrong to leave her like that.
“We can work on this, it won't take long.” There was a tremor in my voice.
“You should know better. Neither you nor I even know what this is. It could be nothin’.” Gran shook her head as my words once again died away. “Look at the three of you. It's not like my hand has been cut off. I'm not standing here bleedin’. Scat, all of ya. What I do know is that you, Logan, and Vincent have to be on your way into the office.” Gran smiled at our stubbornness and shooed us out.
She said it wasn't like her hand has been chopped off, I thought as I followed out the door. I wasn't so sure about that.
When we got into the truck, Logan took his usual place in the driver's seat. We were quiet.
Logan usually would have tried a pep talk at this point. He was very adept at noticing when something was dragging me down, and his determination for happiness was something that could not be conquered. This morning, he wasn’t smiling and there was no cheerful humming to fill the silence. Missing the cheerful noise wasn't something that I expected.
“You heard her.” I tried to fake a smile. “It could be something small.”
“She's blocked,” Logan said.
All attempts at putting a good natured spin on things vanished. I sniffed.
“I don't know what to do. I've never felt anything like it.” Panic welled up inside of me. “I shouldn't leave her like that.”
“Is there anything you could do?” Vincent asked.
He reached out and took my hand. If Logan noticed, he didn't say anything.
“Maybe the doctor?” I suggested.
Logan shook his head. There it is. That sinking feeling of coming up to something and falling way short. I didn't bother to reply. If I had never felt anything like it before, how could I hope to combat it? Maybe it was something natural, but no, I was fooling myself into thinking that way. I took some comfort in the warm hand wrapped around mine.
“Have Susan check in on her, will you? Or Jonathan?” I asked Logan.
“I'll call as soon as we get to the office,” Logan said.
After passing through the checkpoints, we parked in the office lot next to the other work vehicles. The night field crews were out, so there weren't many cars. It was only with reluctance that I let go of Vincent’s hand.
Walking into the building, we saw no signs of life. The place looked exactly like it should look at five in the morning. There was no excitement and no one running around screaming fire. Nothing to indicate what Gran might be worried about.
Logan called Susan and asked her to check on Gran. For good measure, I called Gran as well. She repeated her 'I'm fine' mantra, which did nothing to soothe my uncertainty. Logan nodded at me and we headed to the control room.
When we entered the room, there was a complete lack of activity. Lost that only came out at night tended to keep the shift as busy as we were during the day. And we had only been gone a few hours. Only a handful of the night crew, either bent over desks, or hovering around the small coffee table, was present.
There was nothing to indicate why Gran would be alarmed. People looked up when we entered, surprised that someone would be coming in at this time. Some returned to work with a nod in our direction and a few raised their hands in hello with puzzled looks on their faces. Vincent went over to a desk and booted up a computer. The nighttime technician waved Logan and me over.
“A little early for you day timers, isn't it?” he asked as we walked up.
“Decided to get an early start on things,” Logan said. “Everything quiet tonight?”
“Quieter than it was when you left a few hours ago. You've had an eventful week,” he said.
Logan, settling in to talk, looked a little lighter and livelier. I mentioned meditation and slipped away. When I entered the room set aside for such endeavors, I was surprised to see that Vincent was already there. He was quiet in his own meditative state, so I joined him.
Feelings of agitation and depression welled up once more as I sat down, but I prodded them away. I found my center and emptied my thoughts. Once I concentrated on my energy, I started to pull it in, creating a bright ball in my mind. It was one of the many exercises I did to keep me aware of my own influence on the Path. I once again sent out a small rope-like tendril of energy to get a feel for the atmosphere surrounding me. Like home, the surrounding the area held a buzz, like static. I probed it a little, only to get pins and needles sensation.
Something else was in the air, something that called to me without words. Tentatively, I moved a tendril of energy toward the whisper in the Path. When my energy met the echoing piece in the Path, it was a near mirror image of itself, but hooked elsewhere. The tendrils wrapped warmly around each other before pulling apart. I opened my eyes and stared at Vincent. I felt lighter.
Vincent’s eyes were wide. “What was that?”
“I think…” I stopped and tried to wrap my brain around the sensation. “I think I was able to sense the piece of me that you have inside.”
“It felt…” Vincent shook his head and stood.
“What?”
“It felt familiar.” Vincent shifted and didn’t look me in the eye. “Like a part of me was anchored somewhere else.”
I stood up. “I wonder if that means that I have a piece of your soul—”
“No.”
I jumped at the harshness in his voice.
Vincent took a deep breath and his voice came out much softer. “Sorry, Cass. What I mean is that I wouldn’t— No, I think we’d know by now if you had some of my essence.”
I wasn’t convinced, but I could tell he didn’t want to continue the discussion, so I let it drop for now. Vincent took my hand and gave me a small smile. At his touch, I relaxed.
There was a lightening in the air, as if the pressure had changed in the room. We frowned and returned to the central office, letting go of each other on the way. Everything was quiet.
“What the—?” the technician said. The large central screen in the room started to light up. Vincent and I hurried over. A soft, but persistent alarm began going off. The other staff in the room looked up at the screens and started to make their way over to us.
The tech hit a few buttons and the large central screen winked out. It was soon replaced with a large satellite view of the surrounding area. Thick red lines started to overlap each other. Something in the air popped. The lightness was replaced by a feeling that the Path was being flattened. Pressure built up around us. I grabbed my head and staggered as the air popped again, pressure building faster.
Red lines began crisscrossing the computer screen. Over and over again, the lines appeared, and then they started to get closer together.
Vincent steadied me with concern filling his features. Apparently, I was the only one affected by the force being applied to the Path.
“What's going on?” Logan asked. He had his eyes on me, and I waved his attention back to the screen. The angry red lines were coming closer and closer together until there were seven distinct areas marked on the map. Vincent took a few steps away and sank into a chair, keeping an eye on me.
The technician drew a deep breath. “Portals,” he said softly. “Portals. I've never seen anything like this.” His voice grew louder as he frantically started hitting keys on his keyboard. The smaller screens began displaying closer satellite views of areas around us. “Seven portals opening across the sector.” A few more clicks of the keyboard and the alarm stopped.
Everyone in the room started groping in their pockets as cell phones rang. I sat down hard in a chair and fumbled my phone out of my jacket pocket. I pressed the screen and a text message popped up.
The screen read “911” in red letters. It was the office’s automatic response system. I was sitting in the middle of the emergency so I ignored the text. Agents ran to their desks and started pounding on their keyboards. Phones started ringing as staff called in. All of the daytime agents seemed to be calling at once.
The technician never flinched away from the screens and continued to click the keys on his keyboard.
“You knew,” he accused, without looking away. “What is this, Logan? Cassie?”
“It was Margaret,” Logan said softly. “Margaret said to go to work, so we came.”
“Sharp lady,” Hank said admiringly as he strode into the room. “So, what are we in for? Why didn't you call anyone? That woman should be on the payroll.” Hank sat down next to the tech and started pushing buttons. He looked in my direction and stopped his tapping on the keys. He glanced at Logan, then starting clicking away again.
Maybe I wasn't the only one affected, I thought, looking at Vincent's face. His face was deathly white. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, his hands were clenched tightly together and he shook. He was looking in our direction, but his eyes weren't focused.
The pressure suddenly lifted. Everything felt light, almost too light. It was like a spring that had been pressed tightly together, and then stretched too far apart. It left me light headed. The screens were showing red-orange glows in seven locations. All were away from populated areas except one, which appeared in the nearest town. The portal had opened on a street in the middle of town.
“These are not natural portals,” Hank said, as screens started to scroll through data that seemed meaningless to me. “These are portals, ripped open.”
“Are they dropping off or picking up?” asked Logan in a hurry.
“No way to tell,” Hank replied. “Portals usually go both ways.”
“They're dropping off,” I said, as the spring of energy returned to its normal state. I had no idea how I knew it, but I knew it was true.
“Dropping off downtown?” an agent asked from behind us.
“Barry's on line four,” someone called out.
Hank pressed line four on the nearby phone putting Barry on speaker. He wasted no time filling the boss in on the details.
Barry's orders were concise. “Send in the local cops to quarantine a four block radius downtown.
Use code 593. Send whoever is closest downtown. Send another team north and another team east to the portals that had opened in those directions. We'll start there. Constant radio communication. Let's see what we are dealing with.”
Barry paused as Hank gave the local police Code 593 quarantine activation instructions. Hank pointed to Logan and mouthed “downtown,” then started talking to the police over the phone. We were out the door before the conversation ended.
Chapter 21
Having a full scale anomaly was a rare occasion, but our training had prepared us for many contingencies. Fairies and butterflies were fighting in my stomach as we neared downtown. We drove up to a cop car that blocked the entry to Broadway. An officer used a flashlight to direct the light amount of traffic away from the area. I flashed my badge in his direction and he waved us through. Logan angled past the police cruiser and headed downtown.
After putting in my coms earpiece and turning on the receiver, I heard other teams fanning out across five counties. Another team was headed in our direction, but there was no time to wait for them. Everyone was being pulled in. Part-time agents like Morgan were being pulled into the field, and new agents like Rider, were being pulled into the office to assist. Even Barry was leading a team.
Logan parked the truck and we all switched our coms over to a private channel. We didn't have time to think of other teams. We had a job to do.
“Cassie, you move straight down this side of the street. Vincent, stick with her. Assume there are civilians in the area.”
We nodded and split apart. When we came to an intersection, we looked around the corners, Logan looking down my side of the street, Vincent and I checking his side. We watched for a while, and then moved on when nothing was spotted. On the other side of the street, we watched again in case we missed anything in our blind spots. Once again, it was still, so we crept forward. For two blocks, we continued like this. Then we heard scuffling and a squelching sound.
Up ahead sat a split-level building, with part of the building being below street level. We motioned to Logan, who quietly moved across the street to join us. He was stealthier than I would ever be as he skidded across the street. He ended up ahead of us, on the other side of the opening to a lower level of the building.
AIR Series Box Set Page 26
