“Born and bred,” Duncan said.
Cassie stared at the hairs on the back of her hand, which were standing up. Goose bumps pebbled the skin of her forearm. “You’re like us. A mag-sens.”
Duncan grinned, and his gray eyes twinkled. “One of the new wizards, a master at the occult manipulation of mana.”
Cassie returned his smile.
“You’re not a wizard,” said Elizabeth. “This isn’t magic or witchcraft, and that isn’t funny. You’ve been chosen.” Her gaze swept from Duncan to Cassie. “You’ve both been chosen. We’ve all been chosen. God wants something very special from us.”
Cassie sat back in her chair and carefully considered her words—something she rarely ever did. “Elizabeth, I realize you have strong beliefs, but… I don’t share them. I don’t believe in God.”
Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed. She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. He believes in you.”
Duncan’s glance went from Cassie to Elizabeth. “Maybe we should just agree not to talk about religion.”
When Elizabeth glared at him, he shut his mouth and stared at his plate.
“So, Duncan,” said Cassie, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “What’s this mana you mentioned?”
Duncan grinned. “It’s a video-game term. I coined it to describe the energy that we’re able to tap into. The scientists don’t have a better word, so everyone is kind of adopting it.”
“Duncan likes his video games.” Elizabeth shook her head. “And not everyone is using that silly word. Mostly, it’s just you.”
“How long have you been here?” Cassie asked him.
“Couple of days longer than Elizabeth. Just long enough for Dr. Simmons and her staff to run way too many tests on me.” He snorted. “I’ve never been prodded or poked so much in my life.”
“They find anything?” Cassie asked.
Duncan shook his head. “They don’t have a fucking clue what’s going on.”
“Language,” Elizabeth said as she cut into her food without looking up.
Duncan’s face turned red. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “But they don’t know anything more than anyone else does, which near as I can tell is nothing.”
Cassie nodded. “They ran a bunch of tests on us at the hospital, as well. Brain scans, X-rays, blood samples. I don’t think they found anything, either.”
Duncan lifted his coffee cup and took a sip. “I’m not so sure they’re going to figure any of this out. They need to bring in a psychic, test us for ESP.”
“There’s no such thing as ESP,” Elizabeth said. “That’s all nonsense.”
Was it? She looked from Elizabeth to Duncan.
“Don’t be so sure,” Duncan said. “You ever hear of the Stargate Project, the CIA-funded attempt to use psychics to spy on other countries through remote sensing?”
Elizabeth’s eyebrows rose, and she smiled condescendingly at Duncan. “Come on, Duncan. Really? The Stargate Project? The ultimate case of misplaced government funding? Is this really the argument you want to make?”
Cassie stared at her plate. The Stargate Project?
“Thing is,” said Duncan, clearly becoming defensive, “just because the project was canceled doesn’t mean there wasn’t anything to it.”
“Actually, it means exactly that,” said Elizabeth. “Trust me; if the US government had seriously believed for one second that they could weaponize psychic powers, they would have kept funding their little science project. There’s no way the CIA would have abandoned something like remote viewing if there had been a shred of truth to it.”
“Who says they did abandon it?”
“Oh, come on, please. Just drop the conspiracy-theory nonsense and apply some common sense. What’s next—the men in black? Alien probing?”
Duncan’s face went scarlet. “Jesus, Elizabeth, take a look about you. You’re sitting within a secret army base hidden within the infrastructure of a dam, and you’re making fun of me for conspiracy theories?”
Elizabeth glared at Duncan. “Watch your language.”
Duncan glanced away, flustered. “Sorry, but you have to see what I mean.”
“Wait a minute,” said Cassie. “I thought the army just moved in here, a temporary setup while they hunt down the creatures. That’s what McKnight told me.”
Elizabeth and Duncan both paused and glanced about themselves. The dull roar of conversation within the cafeteria continued unabated. “That’s just not true,” whispered Elizabeth. “Look around for yourself. This place is way more developed than a dam should be. The security is insane, and I don’t care what kind of rent-a-cop uniform the guards are wearing—everything about these people screams military.”
“I saw an Osprey aircraft the other day,” said Duncan very softly.
“A what?” asked Cassie.
“It’s a VTOL aircraft,” said Elizabeth. “A vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, like a helicopter that turns into an airplane.”
“How do you know that?” asked Cassie.
“Because I read things.”
Just for a moment, Cassie felt like punching her in the face. Then, she suddenly remembered where she knew Elizabeth from: there had been a track-and-field meet in Fort St. John two years earlier. It had pulled together all the best athletes from the towns in the North and had been a huge deal at the time. Cassie, by far the fastest runner in Hudson’s Hope, had been competing in the 100-, 200-, and 400-meter dash—as had Elizabeth. She had lost every single event to Elizabeth. When Cassie had tried to congratulate her, the other woman had completely blown her off, acting as though she were too important to be a good sport.
One of the other competitors from Fort St. John had told her that no one liked Elizabeth, that she was a holier-than-thou pain in the ass. Apparently, not much had changed.
Duncan leaned forward. “The thing is,” he whispered, “we don’t have those things in Canada—they’re American.” He grinned. “Hell, our military aircraft are older than my parents.”
“You know,” Cassie said, “Alex told me that this was a joint American-Canadian operation. He never said why.”
Cassie sat back and looked around the crowded cafeteria at the faces of those eating. Everyone was young and fit looking, and there were an awful lot of short haircuts. The occupants of a nearby table glanced in her direction before looking away, too quickly. “Maybe we should lower our voices,” she softly said.
Both Duncan and Elizabeth nodded, taking discreet glances at the room.
“So, maybe we are psychic, maybe it’s magic, and maybe it’s something else,” Cassie said.
“It’s not magic,” said Elizabeth, “and there is no such thing as psychic powers.”
Cassie sighed then turned to Duncan. “So, what can you do?”
Duncan scratched the back of his neck, leaned forward, and whispered as if it were a secret. “Telekinesis mostly. Move small objects.”
He stared down at the table in front of him, focusing on his used napkin. It curled up into a ball. Cassie felt her throat tingle again. The napkin trembled in place, as though a soft wind were blowing it. Then it moved several inches to the side before stopping. Duncan looked up at Cassie and winked.
Cassie smiled, sat back, and without taking her eyes off of Duncan’s, opened herself up to the invisible energy around her and focused it back out again. The napkin lifted into the air in front of Duncan’s face and began to spin, then stopped suddenly and spun in the opposite direction. Duncan’s eyes widened as he snatched the napkin out of the air. The occupants of the nearby table got up abruptly, picked up their trays, and left.
“You probably shouldn’t have done that,” Duncan said. “Everybody here is already kind of freaked out.”
“Vanity,” said Elizabeth, shaking her head.
“What else can you do?” Duncan asked.
Cassie cocked her head to the side. “Like what? Can you do more?”
“Elizabeth can. Pyrokinesis. It’s pretty cool, actually.”
“What?” Cassie asked.
“Pyrokinesis. It’s another form of ESP.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “It’s not ESP.”
Cassie flicked a lock of blond hair away from her eyes. “Well, it sounds like magic.”
Elizabeth leaned forward, glaring at her. “No, you’re wrong. Any attempt at an occult practice is a violation of the First Commandment, a betrayal of faith. What’s happening here is that God is working miracles through us. I just don’t understand why He’s working them through you.”
Cassie snorted, exposing her teeth. “You’re too kind, Elizabeth.” She returned her attention to Duncan. “Thing is, I’m not really following you on the whole pryokin… whatever.”
“Pyrokinesis. She can set things on fire,” Duncan said.
Cassie glanced at Elizabeth. “Really?”
Elizabeth nodded, cut into her chicken, and took another bite.
“Small stuff,” Duncan said. “Pieces of paper, easily inflammable stuff. But she’s getting stronger.”
“You couldn’t do that at the hospital,” Cassie said.
“And you couldn’t make a napkin spin in the air,” Elizabeth said. “Things change.”
Cassie began to eat her own lunch. “I guess they do.” Pyrokinesis. Cassie would remember that word. “Anything else?”
“What do you mean?” Duncan asked. “Isn’t setting things on fire enough?”
“What about changing things, changing the properties of things?” Once again, Cassie saw the basilisk’s glowing blue eyes.
“I’m not following you,” Duncan said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Cassie answered.
“You’re talking about the attack at the hospital, aren’t you?” Elizabeth asked. “That giant dragon thing. I heard it turned people to stone.”
Cassie nodded.
“Well, whatever that thing was,” said Duncan, “I’m pretty sure we’re safe here.”
Cassie opened her mouth to say something but then closed it again.
Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed as she watched Cassie. “What did McKnight tell you?”
“Why do you think we’re here?” Cassie asked her.
Realization dawned on Elizabeth’s face, and she sat back in her chair. “Okay, that makes more sense. They want to do something about the dragon.”
“Basilisk. They’re calling it a basilisk.”
“Well, that makes sense, too,” said Elizabeth. “In mythology, basilisks could turn things to stone with their gaze. Dragons breathe fire.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Duncan, looking from Cassie to Elizabeth.
“The army wants our help going after the basilisk,” answered Elizabeth.
“Bullshit,” Duncan said.
“Language,” Elizabeth said.
“Somebody needs to,” Cassie said.
“Not us—not our problem,” Duncan said.
Cassie leaned forward. “It’s our problem because they need our help. It uses magic. They need a mag-sens to help find it.”
Duncan’s eyes widened. “No fucking way!”
Elizabeth glared at Duncan. “God has given us gifts for a reason. It wouldn’t be very Christian of us to ignore our duty.”
“I don’t know anything about being a good Christian,” Cassie said. “But I am going to help kill that monster if it’s the last thing I do.”
Chapter 20
When Colonel McKnight had told Cassie that the army wanted to test her and the other two mag-sens’ ability to manipulate this new energy source, she had expected… well, more. So when, later that evening, she found herself sitting on a stool with Elizabeth and Duncan in a small classroom, she was underwhelmed. The three of them wore wired nets over their heads, heart-rate monitors, and a series of wires taped to their skin. Cassie had expected a team of scientists in lab coats like she’d seen in the movies. Instead, she got two tired-looking technicians who took notes while the three mag-sens levitated colored rubber balls. It didn’t look like the government had any more idea what had happened to them than the doctors at the hospital had.
The wires and heart-rate monitors were connected to a series of electronic sensors measuring their blood pressure and brain activity, much like the EEG equipment had done with Dr. Ireland. Cassie wondered what had happened to Dr. Ireland and hoped she hadn’t been one of those killed.
One of the two technicians, a woman in her early thirties, had set up a video camera on a tripod near the front of the classroom. Occasionally, she would put her notebook down long enough to peer through the camera’s video screen and ensure everything was still being recorded.
At that moment, a brightly colored green ball came hurtling toward Cassie’s head. Resisting the urge to flinch, she instead channeled a trickle of mana, stopping the ball about six inches from her forehead.
She stared at the spinning ball then adjusted the flow of mana, first slowing down and then stopping the ball’s spin before forcing it to spin in the opposite direction as she took control of it from whichever of the other two mag-sens had sent it at her. Duncan had an intense but puzzled look on his face, reminding her of a baby trying to poo. She couldn’t help but smile as she whipped the ball back at him. He ducked out of the way as it darted past, bouncing off the wall behind him. Cassie snorted happily. Elizabeth, who sat by herself near a large window while spinning four balls—each a different color and each moving in a different direction and arc, inches from her upraised palm—shook her head.
Cassie sighed and turned toward the female scientist. “So, what exactly are we doing here? What have you figured out?”
The woman glanced up, a startled look in her eyes. “What?”
“I said, what have you discovered? What is this mana stuff? How are we doing this? Is it ESP?”
“Well,” the woman said, looking uncertain as she glanced at her colleague, a heavyset guy with glasses and a ponytail. “There’s a lot we don’t really fully understand yet. It’s hard to say exactly.”
“Well, I’m not looking for an exact answer, just more than I know right now, which is pretty much nothing.”
“I’m… I’m sorry. I’m not supposed to…” The woman looked down at her notebook. “We don’t really—”
“They don’t know any more than we do,” Duncan said. “They don’t know how we’re channeling the mana. They can’t see it, measure it, or even tell if it’s there. Only we can. They don’t even know where it comes from.”
Just for a moment, the two technicians shared a quick look, and something unsaid passed between them. Duncan was wrong: these two did know something about where the magical energy came from. What were they hiding?
“They can’t answer that,” said Elizabeth, “because the source is the Lord, and His glory is beyond their machines, beyond their tests. It just is.”
“Yeah, okay, Elizabeth,” said Cassie. “Thanks for contributing.”
Anger flared in Elizabeth’s eyes. The four balls she had been spinning fell to the floor, bouncing across the room in different directions. “You know, I do recognize sarcasm when I hear it, and I don’t particularly care for it.”
Against her own better judgment, Cassie rose to the challenge. “Well, maybe you should dial down the religious bullshit, especially when no one else is asking to hear it.”
“I can say what I want to say. My beliefs are my business, and you have no right to—”
“Nobody gives a shit if you’re religious or not. We just don’t want to hear it all the time.”
The electronic beeping of the monitors, which up to that point had been fairly regular, increased in intensity.
“Hey, guys,” said Duncan warily as he looked from one woman to the other. “Maybe we should just—”
Cassie cocked her head to the side and glared at him. Duncan, no fool, immediately shut up.
“You never even wanted to be here,” said Elizabeth. “You were offered the chance to help out before and you said no. You had absolutely no inte
rest in being a good person until your—”
“Until my sister was murdered. You’re absolutely right. So what? What business is it of yours?”
“So, you don’t belong here. You’re not a team player. You’re not going to help anyone; you’re just here for yourself.”
“No, that’s not true. I’m here to help track down the monster that killed my sister.”
“Revenge is not a Christian value.”
“Really? Are you sure? An eye for an eye, Elizabeth—ever hear that one?”
“You’re going to get someone killed. Maybe one of us.”
Deep down, Cassie heard the small voice of reason within herself that begged her to shut up. She’d never listened to that voice before, so why start now? She crossed her arms over her chest. “Maybe you.”
Elizabeth’s eyes tightened. “What kind of a person are you?”
“The kind of person who believes in science and reason. I thought you were supposed to be intelligent.”
“Belief in the Lord has nothing to do with intellect. It’s about faith. Something you don’t have.”
“No kidding. Yet here I am with the same abilities as you. What does that say about your faith, when an atheist can work the same miracles? ’Cause, from my perspective, I think it means you’re full of shit.” Cassie lifted her palm and began to levitate a spinning ball inches above her hand. “This isn’t a miracle, Elizabeth. It may be ESP, it may be magic, but it’s not a miracle. It’s not God’s power. I know that because I don’t believe in your stupid God, but I can still do these things. What does that tell you?”
The ball that spun above Cassie’s hand burst into flames, and Cassie fell back off her stool and onto the floor as she scrambled back. The burning rubber ball still floated in the air, and drops of flaming rubber sizzled and dripped onto the floor in front of her.
“It tells me, Cassandra Rogan,” said Elizabeth, fury in her eyes as she stood up and advanced on Cassie, “that you need to shut your goddamned lying mouth.”
Cassie pushed herself up on her elbows, tensing, getting ready to pounce on the other woman and beat her senseless. “Language, Elizabeth.”
At that moment, the sprinklers activated, dousing Cassie and the others in freezing cold water. The fire alarm activated a moment later, and Duncan ran over and helped her to her feet, and the three mag-sens and two technicians fled from the room.
Starlight (The Dark Elf War Book 1) Page 16
