by Megan Curd
“Avery, you need your rest. Go get some sleep. Alice, go fix your transgressions with Will and get things back on track.” Sari stood and turned off the showers. Fog had covered the mirrors and filled the room. The boys probably wondered if we had disappeared.
Alice groaned. “I don’t know if I want the track to be fixed if Will’s that kind of guy.”
“You were all for flirting with him,” Sari said dubiously. “What, all talk and no action?”
I laughed. “Alice enjoys the chase. You’ve ruined her plans.”
“Witchy woman,” Sari teased.
Alice turned and raised clawed fingers with a smirk. “And don’t you forget it!”
Sari went into maternal mode and led me to my room. She fixed the duvet on my bed, turned down the sheets, and while she was fluffing the pillow, she winked at me. “It’s been forever since someone showed up I actually liked talking to. Thanks for not being weird.”
“That’s my goal every morning. Make it through the day without being too weird.”
She returned to her work and let out a little gasp of surprise. When she pulled her hand out from under the pillow, a necklace was in her hand, accompanied by a folded note. “Did you put this here?”
“No, I haven’t been in here since this morning.”
“Huh.” She passed me the as she examined the necklace. “This is gorgeous, Avery.”
I turned the parchment over in my hands. It felt ancient. I unfolded the note to find an elegant script with a simple, one-sentence message.
I thought this would remind you of home.
Sari held out her hand expectantly and swapped items with me. She was right; the necklace was gorgeous.
The thin black corded leather and silver clasps were simple. It was the pendant that made the necklace extraordinary. Nestled between golden glass beads were the insides of an old watch, its gears and cogs ticking perfectly in time. Tick, tick, tick. The top layer of larger cogs were silver, but underneath lay smaller brass and copper counterparts. It was held together by metal wire that had been smelted into place.
I trembled as I examined the jewelry. My father had worn a timepiece I had kept on my dresser back home. The comforting tick had always made it easier to go to bed. My eyes filled with tears. I turned the pendant over, and my stomach lurched. The carved initials of my father, C.P., were etched into the back of the golden watch. This was my father’s watch.
It was beautiful.
It terrified me.
I hadn’t brought this with me. Someone had been in my home. Someone here. I could think of only two people—Riggs and Jaxon. Neither struck me as the type to give a gift simply for the sake of being nice.
“Who do you think it’s from?” I asked Sari as she folded the piece of paper back to its original state.
“I’m not sure, but whoever it was must be very interested in getting on your good side, and I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing.”
Feeling the weight of the timepiece in my hand gave me hope. Having a tangible reminder of home made me feel better about being in Dome Seven, even if the person giving the gift might be Riggs. The cogs also reminded me of something that had occurred to me when I saw his mechanical arm sitting stationary in the library.
I jumped up and swayed from the rush of blood to my head.
Sari was beside me the next instant. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“You said you controlled the cameras,” I said as I thought through my idea.
“Yeah, so?”
“So would you be able to keep me off the radar if I went to check on Legs?”
“I could manage that. Stick to the shadows to make it easier on me.”
“Easy enough.”
“You’d think so, but Riggs never makes anything easy. Get there and get back before anything bad happens.”
She made it sound like a matter of when something bad happened, not if.
Always reassuring.
SARI TALKED TO me as I dug in my closet for dark-colored clothing. I felt as if we were planning a burglary, not a visit to Legs. “I wouldn’t tell Alice. Not about this.”
I glanced back at her, surprised. “Why? I tell her everything.”
“Because some people are better off not being liable. The less she knows, the less she can get in trouble for if things go south.”
I digested her words. “A lot of your information is guesswork. Sure, you think Riggs has Resistance beliefs, but you also said he was part of the Alliance at one point. And Alice won’t let a guy change her, no matter what.” Alice would never betray me, that I was sure of. “Maybe Riggs is misunderstood, you know?”
“Would you consider him blowing your friend’s arm off as misunderstood?”
I flinched at the reminder. Legs had gotten himself in so much trouble because of me. I turned to go check on him, but Sari put a hand on my shoulder. “Look, Riggs isn’t necessarily all bad. What I know is that the guy is a zealot for what he believes in.”
“And what is that?”
“I haven’t gotten into all the files yet, but from what I’ve found, I think he believes that the Resistance—the ones that caused the war, that caused us to live like this—should rise again.”
Sari looked out over dome and I followed suit, taking in the fake twinkling stars that glinted in the velvety darkness. A visceral shudder ran through my body. I rubbed my upper arms to keep the goose bumps at bay. “I don’t know much about the war. Our history class started discussing it the day Jaxon came for me. Do you know what happened?”
She appeared to be warring within herself.
“You don’t have to tell me anything if you’re uncomfortable.”
“You deserve to know,” she said with a fierceness I hadn’t seen before. She took a breath and started again. “You deserve to know. Most of the histories are restricted area of the library. Riggs allows us to read them for courses, but he never sides with either agenda in public. In private, though…”
“In private he’s an asshat,” finished Jaxon, who stood in the doorway with his hands balled into fists. The vein on the side of his head was bulging, and his jaw was clenched. If he bit down any harder, I was afraid he’d break his teeth. “And that would be why allowing him to corral the best and brightest together in this little ant farm could make things very, very bad. He’s a man with power, means, and an agenda. Now come on, I’ll take you to see your homicidal friend.”
***
The glow of the gaslights threw shadows in front of us as we slunk down the hall, careful to stay hidden in the darkness. Inside, I was seething. Jaxon had no right to eavesdrop on my personal conversations. “How long were you listening to Sari and me?”
“Long enough to hear you wanted to go see Legs, so we’re going to see him. Now be quiet.” He reached inside a niche and found the cord for the electric candles. He yanked it and threw the hallway into darkness. A moment later he intertwined his fingers with mine in the darkened corridor.
Electricity sizzled in my fingertips where I touched his smooth skin. Why was he holding my hand? Why was I allowing him to? I followed him in the darkness and hoped we wouldn’t run into a wall, all the while wishing the darkness would go on a little longer. He kept running his thumb along the back of mine, giving me butterflies.
Damn it, if he wasn’t such an ass, I might have been willing to admit I liked him.
Once we reached the atrium, we came out of the shadows and moonlight illuminated his face. I found him looking at me in amusement.
“What I don’t get is why you’re all about this guy. What’s he got that I don’t have?” he said.
“He isn’t arrogant, sarcastic or rude for starters.” I made sure my eyes caught his, which widened in surprise. My insides bloomed with warmth. So he did have feelings.
He puckered his lips before replying. “Yeah, I can see that. Not many have such great qualities like him. He seemed drug-addled to me, and is an attempted murderer, to boot.”
“He didn’t try to murder you.”
“Oh really?” Jaxon thrust his arm out into the low light, the shadows twisting around it like vines. “This looks like attempted murder to me.”
I laughed. “Oh yes, Legs barely missed a crucial artery.”
Jaxon stopped dead in his tracks. He tipped his head to the side like a little bird. It was the first time I’d actually seen him act hurt. He rushed to raise the mask of indifference again though, and he fastened on a sardonic smile. “How long have you known him? Do you even know his real name?”
“I’ve known him since I was little, and he only goes by Legs.”
Jaxon leapt like a wolf attacking weak prey. “So you don’t know his real name.”
“No one knows his real name! It’s something that’s private to him, I guess.”
“As though we have any privacy to begin with,” Jaxon said somberly.
“Indeed.”
“Which means I’ll be finding out his real name.”
“Why does it matter to you?”
“Because you like him, and I need all the information on my competition that I can get,” he said with a shrug.
“I never said I liked him.”
“But your actions tell me otherwise. You call him by his preferred name, not his given name, not to mention the fact that we’re out after curfew going to check on him.”
“Are you really that butt hurt that I’m going to see the guy who has saved me time and time again?”
He crossed him arms like a petulantly. “I saved you last.”
“I’ll be sure to keep a tally from now on.”
“You won’t call me Jax.”
“Oh, for the love of God, you’re not back on that kick, are you?”
“I’m trying to figure you out.”
“That’s going to take longer than you have, Mr. Pierce.”
I darted into the central area of the academy, keeping close to the walls to avoid detection, leaving Jaxon where he stood.
Out of nowhere, his breath ran like warm water over the back of my neck. I closed my eyes for a moment, then forced them back open. No. Not Jaxon. Nothing for Jaxon.
“Now it’s Mr. Pierce, eh?” He put one of his large hands at the small of my back to lead me toward Xander’s office. “I think I’m going backwards.”
“You are backwards, Jaxon.”
He laughed and muscled around me, sliding far too much of his toned body against me as he moved past. His chiseled chest pressed against mine as he leaned in, inches from my mouth. I sucked in a breath to avoid his scent. No dice. It still overpowered me. His smile was evident even in the low light, and I bit my lip to keep from sighing. His hand brushed my cheek, and he ran a finger down the side of my neck, sending shivers through me. “If I were backwards, I’d be Noxaj,” he whispered huskily. “What kind of name is that? It’s not sexy at all.”
“I never said you were sexy,” I whispered as his hands roved through my hair at the base of my neck.
“No, no you didn’t…” His lips were on my neck. His hands worked down my back.
I stood there like a wet noodle, incapable of responding.
Do something! Touch him back! my brain screamed, but my body felt detached. Do something, or he’s going to think you’re on the relationship short bus.
He pulled away to search my eyes, but for what, I didn’t know.
I willed myself to give him something. Anything. An awkward grin, accompanied by a cough was all I could muster. Really, Avery? Seriously? I knew later replays of this moment in my mind, no matter how awful, wouldn’t compare to the actual event.
Jaxon took a step back and cleared his throat. “I guess that was out of line. I just thought…never mind. Wow, yeah. Legs is lucky to have someone like you.”
Even if my brain had been working properly, I wouldn’t have had a chance to respond. He disappeared down the narrow hallway that led to Xander’s office.
No, Jaxon, no. It’s not like that. Legs and I aren’t anything. You and I… A small voice laughed as I thought through the magnificent opportunity I’d shattered into a million pieces. You and Jaxon aren’t anything, either, Avery.
I shook myself out of the moment and refocused on my initial plan. The corridor that led to Xander’s office felt like an afterthought, as though someone had busted out a portion of an already-existing wall to accommodate him. He certainly didn’t have much of a medical wing.
Jaxon’s body was swathed in bright light as he wrenched the door open. His eyes caught mine, and I saw the embarrassment of me denying him. Part of me was horrified, the other proud. It seemed that it might have been the first time he was turned down.
But I didn’t want to turn you down. In that moment, I knew I wanted to kiss him. I would kiss him. My body agreed, and I moved toward him, resolve spurring each step. Before I could get near, the door closed behind him and left me in darkness once more.
Little git. Chivalry was most certainly dead when it came to Jaxon Pierce. And at some point he will be too, if he keeps being so stubbornly rebellious about everything.
It caught me by surprise.
Not the thought, no—that was as true as the rising sun—but that my insides squirmed with concern for him. Why should I care about him? He was obnoxious. Still, part of me thought that deep inside that mess of derision and disdain was a person capable of actually feeling something. The only way someone could hate so deeply was to have loved twice as much and been hurt because of it.
MY EYES WATERED from stepping into the harsh light of Xander’s office. Jaxon leaned against a white bookcase that matched the rest of the room’s sterile décor. With trepidation, he eyed Legs, who sat on the examining stool in the opposite corner.
Legs appeared to be sleeping. The cuts and bruises on his shirtless torso made me hurt just to look at them. His chest heaved with each labored breath. An IV and blood bag snaked along his forearm and rested in the crook of his elbow.
“He’s calmed down enough that I thought I’d try to give him a little boost with your generous donation,” said a voice to my left. Xander was sitting in a miniscule recess on the other side of the bookshelf. I would never have noticed the niche had I not heard him. The room seemed to have been carved out of the earth; the walls were still dirt and the floor, simple boards. It was an afterthought, perhaps, or maybe Xander created this niche on his own, not bothering to hire anyone to fix it up. Either way, I wondered how it didn’t collapse.
He, however, didn’t seem concerned in the least. He sat in a brown leather chair, tattered book in hand. The spine was broken, the binding threatening to pull away. He looked up from the pages and gave a tired smile, dark circles evident under his eyes. “I figured you’d come back to check on him.”
His scrubby chin showed signs of a five o’clock shadow, and steam rose from the cup on the wobbly table beside him. It smelled like dark, rich coffee and made my mouth water.
“What made you think that?”
“You have a good heart, Robin Hood.”
His eyes returned to the book and he turned over a page with utmost care.
The silence wasn’t awkward, but I didn’t know what to do, either.
Riggs’s thought that I could manipulate elements came back to me. I focused on the steaming mug and the image of snow danced in my mind.
The pounding in my head returned.
The mist continued to rise but instead of disappearing, it thickened, roiling and coming to rest like clouds overhead.
Xander gasped.
The room grew cold. Crystalline formations crept over the small escape window, and the clouds billowed overhead. Tiny white particles dropped from them and landed in my hands. They were perfect little stars of different shapes and sizes, and as soon as they landed on my hand, they melted away.
Xander’s eyes widened when a flake landed on his book. “How in the—?” he started, looking delighted as he reached a hand upward. “You’re making snow!”
Jaxon peere
d around the corner, trying not to look too interested. “How could anyone make snow…?” He trailed off as he took in the sight. “My God, there’s snow in here!”
I’d never seen faces that joyful. Xander took off his night robe and wrapped his book gently in the cashmere fabric to protect it from the flakes. They raised their hands to the ceiling to touch the cloud. Their hands ghosted through the cool wisps, thrilling both of them. Jaxon scooped a handful of snow off the tile floor and molded it into a ball. He tossed it to Xander, who laughed and held it up to examine it like a particularly interesting specimen.
Jaxon focused on me, wonder filling his grey-blue eyes that always commanded my attention. “You never told me what you were capable of.”
Excitement filled my stomach. “I don’t know what I’m capable of. Riggs tried to get me to create elements today to see how far he could push me. Xander had coffee sitting beside him, and I decided I’d try to manipulate the steam differently than before. You know, to see if I could use the element that was already there.”
“This is amazing,” Xander mused. “It’s no mystery why you’re here. You could manipulate the power of all the domes running on steam, which is over half of them.” He eyed me with a mix of curiosity and excitement. “Can you do more? What else have you tried?”
My head was pounding from the snowflake stunt. “Well, I’ve only tried what Riggs had me do today, and that didn’t work out so well.” And I nearly passed out. “Riggs wants me to create elements, but so far I’ve only manipulated what was in front of me.”
I glanced between them, excited and proud of my accomplishment. When Jaxon met my eyes the second time, he averted his eyes.
“He’s going to use her as leverage,” he whispered. His fists clenched and unclenched as he watched the snow fall to the ground. “I’ve brought him the most formidable asset he could ever have.”
Xander put a hand on Jaxon’s shoulder. “Jax, it’s okay—”
He slapped Xander’s hand away with more force than necessary and turned on his heel. His voice filled the small room and resonated in my bones, even as he retreated. “No it isn’t! I want to end his reign of tyranny, not contribute to it!”
