by Terina Adams
Chapter 21
He wore a black suit, which gave him rank amongst those in the room. “Welcome, Sable. It’s been a long time coming, but I’m so very glad to have you here.”
My steps were cautious, like I was ready for a fight, and I was. If Carter dared touch me, even a friendly pat, I would take out his eyes, at least I’d try, and damn the consequences.
They all looked at me, except Jax, who stared at the floor from his slouched position in one of the easy chairs. I couldn’t decide if his ignoring me meant contempt or shame. Elva stood on the other side of the room from Holden, who came toward me and offered his hand. Being Persal, he was perhaps the only person in the room I could trust, but only a little.
“I was worried about you.”
“Why?”
“It’s taken you more time to get here than we expected. Thought you may have changed your mind.”
He took in my look, face no doubt sweaty and red, and would’ve worked out why it took me so long.
“You all right?”
“Not sure. Ask me that in another hour.”
He squeezed my hand and tried for a half smile.
I nodded toward Carter. “What’s he doing here?” I didn’t bother to lower my voice or sugarcoat my tone.
“You wanted the truth. He’s here to give it to you.”
“The truth according to him.”
“It’s the same thing any of us would tell you.”
I looked Holden in the eye. “Why don’t you? I’m not interested in hearing anything he has to say.”
“Carter is a member of the Senate of Factions. He represents Aris, which means—”
“I’m King Dick around here. So sit and let’s get on with this.”
He did as he commanded, finding a seat that put him at the center of the gathering. He folded his hands in his lap and looked up at me. I remained in my spot, and that’s where I would stay. I was forced to play his stupid game, but I would not follow his commands.
“What about my mother?”
“Your mother is finally living. You should be grateful for that. I’ve given her a chance no one else would’ve done for a woman her age with no experience. And as long as you play your part, she will stay where she is, earning her living and keeping her family fed.”
The shark reappeared, cruising smoothly through my hidden accusations. How I wanted to smack that smug smile off his face. I wanted to watch him bleed. I wanted to hear him scream with agony, which wasn’t me at all. In his presence, I became what he wanted me to become—a morally ambivalent fighter. I’d become his pawn, but he’d best be careful lest the pawn became his greatest enemy.
I didn’t know what I was thinking, but I was now beyond my life, which meant I was free to become someone else, whether I liked it or not.
“What about Ajay?”
“Too young, for now. And if you want to keep him on the outside of Dominus, I suggest we get these questions done and start your training.”
Fine. I mimicked him and sat heavy in the seat opposite with my arms folded across my chest. “I’m only getting started. This Senate of Factions, is that like the rockabilly community or something? Are you a bunch of people who like to pretend you live in the world of Dominus?”
Tyren transformed from a statue into a person and came to sit next to me, his expression encouraging and friendly. He seemed keen for me to be a part of their sick adventure. “We do live in the world of Dominus.”
I snorted. “And this world, where exactly is it? I must have missed the label on the map during geography lessons.”
Elva slammed her hands to her sides and huffed out the biggest breath. “Do we need to do this? Why can’t we just throw her in the game and watch her sink?”
Holden sat beside me. Somehow this felt like a show of support for me against Elva. I didn’t want to be stuck in the middle of their silent love battle. “Our world is not on the map because it’s nowhere in this location.”
“Yeah, right.” My voice wasn’t as sarcastic as I wanted it to be. I flicked a quick glance to Jax, but he remained as marble, looking at the floor. Perhaps I should drag the bright orange cushion I’d sat on out from under me and use it as a projectile, see if that would get me some of Jax’s attention. Now was not the time for him to go icy. It annoyed the hell out of me that he should flip into one of his moods and feed me the silent treatment. He was the one who gave me to Carter, taunted Dad, gave me a glimpse of his softer side, showed me something at Aris HQ that had to be significant, threw me into the game without my factional nature, saved my life, took me to a place of magical serenity. Sometimes he drew me close, opened a part of his soul, and gave me a glimpse. Sometimes he treated me like a tool that Carter hoped to fashion to a weapon. It was as if there were times when he forgot himself and became real. Problem was, I didn’t know which part of him that was.
One thing I knew for sure, after last night, I couldn’t refute anything anyone in this room said with confidence, and that made the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand erect.
“So you’re aliens?”
My voice sounded strained, inching up an octave at the end.
Holden smiled. “No. Not really. We call our world earth like you do. We look like you, we just live differently. And we happen to be across the veil in another dimension.”
“You want me to swallow that crap?” The word dimension ran prickles down my backbone. Jax had mentioned it last night.
“I believe quantum physics covered it best. It’s been interesting watching everyone argue over the theories through the years. Unfortunately, those in your dimension who understand the rules are unable to do anything about it. We, on the other hand, can. Dimension travel is…or should I say was…a common pastime.” Carter sounded bored.
“And my dad?”
“Is…sorry, was a member of the Senate of Factions for Persal. I’m afraid his absence has been noticed and he’s about to lose his seat.”
My eyes fell to his white cuffs poking out the bottom of the sleeves of his shirt. Gold bars as cuff links finished the impeccable look, a wealthy businessman, organized, in control, powerful. What was under the right cuff? A tattoo like Jax’s, the symbol of his unity with everyone else in this room except Holden and me?
“What are you doing in my world?”
“Recruiting and training. We need souls capable of fighting a very special war. So far your dimension has proved the best recruiting ground, but the process is slow and tedious.”
“You’re calling innocent deaths tedious.”
I could’ve scratched the smirk off Carter’s face. “Similar we may be, but there are significant differences.”
“Such as our strong regard for life.”
“Believe me, we value life.”
“Your own, maybe, but no one else’s.”
Carter’s laugh was mirthless as he looked around the room at the others. “What do you think?”
I followed his gaze to find no one met his eyes. Given the somber expression on everyone’s faces, I would say they were uneasy discussing the lack of morality of what they were doing. Their silence pounded a restless beat through my veins. If they were all so uneasy, why weren’t any of them speaking out?
Carter shifted his hard stare back to me. “There’s a fifty-fifty split you’re not going to make it. I was on the negative, but now, I don’t know. Given you’re Nixon’s girl, we could be in for a surprise. What do you think, Jax? You ready to change your bet?”
The moment distilled to a single tick of the clock as my heart stalled in disbelief. I’d been rewound to the time in court, but instead of staring at my father’s face, I was staring at Jax. A punch in the gut would’ve made me feel better than what I just heard. They were gambling on me surviving Dominus. But the sickest part was Jax had betted against me. I hardened my stare to nails, but they glanced off the crown of his head. All those tousled black loose curls acted like the perfect defense against my silent intent. Look at me,
just this once look at me, so I can see the face of deceit. He stared stubbornly at the ground.
At what point had I started to believe in him? That was the only explanation I could find for how gutted I felt right now.
I bit back the sting in my eyes and focused on Carter. “What about Salvador and the other young gamers? How much did you win when they died?”
Carter’s smirk remained solid, but the atmosphere in the room became taut with the silence. I made a point of looking everyone in the eye. Holden had the grace to sink his head to his chest. Tyren didn’t look much better. Jax sat alone, yet to move. His were the only eyes I couldn’t meet. Regardless, a knot of tension emanated from him and coiled around the room like a whip about to crack.
Were the lump in my throat and the sting in my eyes due to my anger or fear? I felt trapped in a cage with vipers, all watching and waiting for the wrong word or movement before they attacked. And with each in breath, I felt like I was slowly being bound by a wire coil.
Was this who my dad was? No, not the side of him I knew, the side that loved his family. He lied, but he lied to keep his family safe. I understood that now. How could I fault that? Because in his shoes, I would’ve done the same.
I addressed Carter. “How many others from your world are here?”
“No one else.”
“How is Dominus a recruiting and training program?”
“It mimics our world.”
“How much?”
“We want warriors who know how to fight. They need to understand the rules of our world.”
“Aris and Persal have an alliance, right? Which means none of the other factions know you’re here or what you’re doing. Sounds to me like a takeover.”
Finally Carter’s smirk slipped. Tyren snorted an appreciative laugh.
Carter sat forward, the easy manner gone. “It’s so easy to die. Just remember that.”
He swept to his feet and buttoned the first hole of his jacket. “You’ve had your little talk. It’s time to begin.”
He strode past everyone without another word and disappeared into the lift. My eyes followed his back, so too my hatred. Surely it wasn’t possible to carry so much hatred and not combust or turn into something ugly.
This was my enemy. This was the man who’d broken my family, would continue to break my family until he had what he wanted, and then he would go on to break my world. This was the man I had to stop. But how? I looked around me but no one would meet my eyes, strangers all of them. Were they all my enemy?
Tyren was the first to move. Looking at everyone, he said, “I say we do this,” then to me, “This time you get all of us.”
This I hadn’t been expecting. “You’re not all against me?”
I wanted to stay in my chair but rose anyhow.
“We play together against the computer. Don’t you guys say over here, sink or swim?”
“That’s a figure of speech. It’s not meant to be taken literally.”
“Whatever, you’ll never learn how to be good unless you face the greatest challenge.”
“How about I get a little better than totally sucks before I attempt that?”
“Babe, this is what we do. Trust us to get you through. And then you’ll learn and you’ll play better and get smarter. Once Holden helps you find your special talent, we’ll be an unstoppable unit.”
“And I thought you were the sane one of this bunch.”
Tyren frowned, then burst out laughing. He came forward and clapped me on the back like we were old friends. “This is going to be fun.”
Elva stopped short before following Tyren. “Don’t think because you’re Nixon’s girl you’re anything special.”
I would take her friendly bit of advice to indicate she wouldn’t be giving me any help.
They all departed for the gaming room, except Jax, who stood like he had aches that needed slow straightening. I should’ve followed the rest, but sucker me wanted to hear his explanation.
We stood alone in the room like strangers. After everything, we ended up like this. I wanted to pound against the barrier that continually formed between us. Why wasn’t I ignoring him and following the rest through? Because at some point along the way, I’d started to rely on him. I believed he was someone who would help pull me through. Why had I done that, when so far fate had proved no one was reliable? The need to trust someone was greater than my logic, but Dad was right; no one was trustworthy.
“What we are is not always a pretty thing. You’ll learn that once you allow your factional nature in. But it doesn’t have to be the sum total of you.”
“I don’t care about that.”
He wouldn’t look at me. “Once you start, it will consume you. You need to know that. Not like you can do anything about it, but you should be prepared. You won’t walk out of Dominus and be the same person. An important part of you will be lost forever.”
We both remained where we were. As if the need to share and the need to hear had magnetized us in place.
“Why?”
“You can’t face what you’re about to face and remain untouched.”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
He stalled. His shoulders slumped as he looked at the floor. So brief was the emotion, it could’ve been missed, but I saw it and read it like a reflection of my soul, the understanding of inevitability. He wasn’t a savior, he was just like me, a pawn. Neither of us was big enough to overcome the forces that placed us here. And now I became his mirror as I lost the most crucial parts of myself—the parts that made me believe and trust.
“You may not like this new part of yourself. Your father wanted to protect you from it.”
“There’s no point in saying that now. I’m here because of you.”
It wasn’t true. I would be here regardless of whether it was Jax who got me to this point, but my desolation made me angry, and he was the best person for my attack.
“You said you had a sister, so why Ajay? Why mess with him?”
Only the guilty turned their backs as he did right now. “You don’t want to know my reasons.”
“Because they’re not good enough,” I shouted at his back.
“Because you’ve been through too much. You have every reason to despise me. Most of the time I despise myself.”
He walked away from me and I found myself stuck in place, unable to move because he’d taken my emotions and ripped through them with a Stanley knife, leaving me with nothing to help make my next decision. But there was no decision to make. Carter saw to that. I stared at the retreating form of Jax as he loped into the gaming room and out of sight. The door remained ajar, an invitation. Noises in preparation for the game flowed out to greet me. The distance to the room became a mile, or was it I was shrinking? I closed my eyes because that’s the only wall I could create as the conveyor belt of my fate whizzed me forward; I would soon be ejected, ready or not.
I pushed everything important to me down deep until I was left numb and followed Jax into the gaming room.
Chapter 22
I would like to think everyone who stood around me in their dotted suits had an interest in getting me through Dominus alive, but there were no guarantees. I was going to stick to Holden like cement, which would only create a greater enemy out of Elva. Since I figured she was more likely to stab me than save me, what did it matter?
Jax had saved my ass the first time, but I wasn’t about to rely on him again. Thinking about our crazy, twisted association gave me a head spin. One minute he was saving my life and giving me rare glimpses of his private side; the next he was betting against me surviving.
Carter appeared the boss, but I didn’t know the group well enough to determine if the four of them were subordinate enough to listen to his commands or the sort to deal with matters as they saw fit.
If ever there was a time for me to find whatever inner strength I possessed, this was it. Unfortunately, my courage had taken a battering the last couple of months. Jax said Domin
us was built on lies and manipulation, but after everything, I doubted my ability to shift through the fabrications to find the truth, and now I was forced to rely on people I didn’t know or trust as I entered a game that gave the one-strike-and-you’re-out policy a hellish new meaning; I had no second chance.
We stood in a circle, everyone’s attention on Jax, which told me he was the one they considered the leader. Even Holden waited for him to speak. I searched everyone’s faces, looking for a hint of understanding that what we were about to do was insane, but saw only determination.
My stomach coiled up tight, twisting right up to my throat such that I couldn’t swallow. I didn’t want to be here. This wasn’t my fight. But I’d been dragged into it by virtue of my father and his other life, which was perhaps more real than the one he’d shared with us.
“We go in on game mode. But we have no objective today. This is a basic training exercise for Sable’s sake. I’m keeping the level low. No heroics. Just make sure Sable comes out alive.” Maybe I could relax a smidgeon now, and hopefully Elva would obey.
While the others put their goggles on, Jax approached me.
“Watch and learn, but keep alert. And stay close to me.”
Holden came up alongside me. “I’ll keep her covered.” He sounded proprietary.
They eyeballed each other. I could sense both bristling. Holden was willing to give Jax the lead, but Jax wasn’t technically his leader, being a different faction and all. Seconds ticked before a silent acquiescence took place between them. They broke and found a space, then slid their goggles over their eyes. I wasn’t sure who won the steely-eyed contest, but I would stick with both if possible. I’d experienced what a warrior in game mode could do, and I wasn’t prepared to find bugs crawling out of my stomach.
I slid my goggles down to find Jax had landed us right into Califax City. It was beautiful in game mode. The boring grays and browns gave way to an assortment of dazzling colors. The roads were cobbled and lined with trees whose leaves were turning deep amber, orange, or red. Garden beds of flowers turned the base of each tree into a colored quilt. The buildings appeared to be made of metal and glass, their architecture unique to anything found on earth. They sure liked to make everything imposing, including the overuse of spires, sharp angles, and thick metal beams. Perfectly rendered bots populated the streets, each original in design and scarily warrior-like.
