Zoey jumped in. “Aww, you walked her home?”
“Better yet, I took her bowling.” Sam confirmed with an impish grin. “Couldn’t let that good dress got to waste!” Two gulps later, Sam handed Zoey an empty bottle. This moment alone was one she was bound to remember, the feeling of being right at home wherever life took her, as long as these two were around.
She sighed, but alcohol definitely lightened the mood for Zoey. They were her present and their future hung on her shoulders. One thing was certain: there was nothing she wouldn’t do for their safety, for the safety and wellbeing of her moms and all those kids she had a privilege to share a class with. “I’ll do it,” Zoey said while placing the empty bottle on the filing cabinet which, just like in her bedroom, served as a nightstand. “I’ll help them get James.”
Emma pulled herself further up on the bed, resting her back against the headboard as she turned to Zoey. “You don’t have to do this. We’ll find another way.”
What James and Beck had done to Mia was not her secret to tell, so as much as she wished to ease Zoey in her decision, Sam was reduced to biting her lip and remaining silent. She’d kill him herself with her bare hands after what she’d seen. “At this point in time…” Sam pushed herself up and into a sitting position, “it’s about the lesser of two evils principle.”
She watched Zoey pulling her knees to her chest. She contemplated the truth behind Sam’s tipsy words of wisdom and Margaret’s famous quote rang in her head like a bitter truth: ‘we do what we can with what we have’. Despite the many variables of this equation, the constants were the ones to make the capital difference. And they were both pretty merry right about now.
A violent knock on the door jarred them all, and they stiffened as if caught with a hand in the cookie jar. “Are your pants on, ladies?” Lilou chirped from the other side. Without receiving an answer, she came in. Two steps into the room and her nose crinkled. “What’s that vile smell?”
Sam patted the spot next to her in bed. “Why, I thought you’d never ask!” She chuckled, watching cautious Lilou take wary steps in her direction, still sniffing. “Well, butter me up and call me biscuit—Lilou, meet Ramon Bilbao,” she signaled the two empty bottles on the cabinet. “Ramon Bilbao, this is Lilou.”
“What’s in those bottles?” Lilou raised an eyebrow.
Sam rolled her eyes like a true brat. “You can’t bring the house down on me and expect me not to drink.”
“Is that—is that alcohol?” Lilou’s eyes popped out as she hurried past the bed. She was quick to grab both bottles and sniff louder than a greyhound.
Given the sound coming out of the process, Sam felt compelled to say: “Luke, I am your father!” And there was silence no more, as a unanimous burst of laughter echoed all through the room. “Wait a minute,” leave it to Sam to play inspector Gadget. “You’ve never had alcohol?!” Six curious eyes landed on her face and in Sam’s view, Lilou’s expression could only be compared to seeing teeth on a chicken.
“Um… no.” Lilou knew of alcohol, but like with other earthly habits, she was not one to indulge in something known to cloud judgment. Especially something of foreign origins. “Do you need medical attention?” Her next question made the bed shake under belly laughs. Given the circumstance, humans sure could detach themselves from current reality thanks to alcohol, so what she knew about it, proved to be true.
Emma nearly felt bad for poor Lilou, so she tried to ease her out of confusion. “I’m sorry, it’s wrong to laugh, especially under these circumstances. We’re fine, Lilou.” She confessed as she got out of bed on somewhat unsteady legs. “It should be out of our system in an hour or two.”
Sam however, looked like she’d seen an alien for the very first time. “I have four more where these bad boys came from.” She announced with visible pride. “You’re welcome to drink with us!”
“You bought six bottles of wine at duty free?” Emma’s mouth went agape.
“I told you I’d get you six bottles of wine for your trouble if we came here!”
Leave it to Sam to take that literally. Emma facepalmed herself, watching Zoey and Sam giggle like two mountain goats.
“In my defense,” Sam continued “I bought these before Valentine’s Day turned into D-Day!” She shrugged and winked at Zoey, not exactly even sure why.
Lilou tapped her kalenium and Jasper’s voice answered on the other side. “I can’t bring them down for training, Jasper, they’ve been drinking.”
“So?” Somehow, his answer made all of them chortle again, Sam even grabbing Emma’s leg for balance.
Lilou exhaled, defeated. “They had alcohol.” She rolled her eyes.
It took seconds for a flash of blue to blind them. Jasper’s worried gaze scanned their faces as if they’d been poisoned. “Are you okay?”
Other than her insides suddenly flaring with guilt, Zoey nodded. “We’re so sorry, guys, we… we got a little carried away.”
His eyes were fixed on his kalenium, most certainly inspecting their vitals. “I’ll say. Their reaction time has decreased by 35%, slight cognitive impairment, affected neurotransmitters...” He looked at Zoey. “You should feel better by lunchtime though.”
It was almost funny watching optans so immersed in their kaleniums. Like their own talking magic mirrors.
“We can’t really afford setbacks,” Lilou announced, visibly irritated. “Mia and Rufus are already in training. Google says caffeine and cold showers, so everyone to their rooms and I’ll have coffee waiting for you downstairs.”
A cold shower was definitely not on Sam’s wishlist, yet she didn’t protest this time around. “Aye aye.” Making puppy eyes at Lilou, she bolted up. Emma was the first to hop off the bed and vanish through the door. Their stay with the optans had never been a B & B, and she certainly wasn’t going to be the one to set them back.
Neither was Zoey, who pressed her finger to the handle and clicked her bedroom door open. She gasped, startled by Jasper who awaited with his arms folded across the chest. She suddenly became self-conscious at the thought that she probably smelled like a brewery. If Lilou’s nose crinkled, Jasper’s lips could do worse.
“Don’t come near me!” She threw a menacing whisper, knowing the girls were three doors down. “I need to brush my teeth.” Storming past him with a dismissive hand wave, she went straight into the bathroom. Her cheeks were all flushed. She blew into her palm to check her breath, but the nostrils failed her.
Jesus, what was I thinking?! Getting drunk at not even 11:24 a.m. with all the chaos going on, with all the optans working on so many fronts to save our asses! She shoved the toothbrush and brushed as if her reputation depended on it.
When she opened the bathroom door, she found him in the same pose. “I’m so sorry, Jasper, I really have no excuse!” She trailed off as he stood puzzled, scanning her freckled face.
“Does alcohol always make you talk this fast?” His fingers traced his jawline in wonder. It appeared that his presence in her bedroom had more to do with personal curiosity than telling her off. The way he tilted his head, zooming in on her face and narrowing his eyes at the evidence made her uneasy.
“Why are you here, Jasper?” She snapped and propped both hands on her hips, watching as one of his eyebrows went up in amusement. “Do you think this is funny?”
His broad shoulders aligned with her frame and her eyes couldn’t help lowering to his forearms and tracing the map of his veins extending in all their curve and beauty. Even in a t-shirt and sweatpants he had her hyperventilating. “See something you like?” He dared with the same smirk that made her rethink the cold shower. It didn’t take another word and she looked away.
“I need to shower.”
“I know, I just came here to make sure you don’t cheat. Turned off the hot water.” He grinned before he pressed a hand and vanished.
γ
The training room was big enough to fit them all, each of the hybrids in their massive glass rooms, exercisi
ng their enhancements time and time again. Emma sat beside Alex, keeping a close eye on the intersats. She’d learned the symbols, even fiddled with a few at his command. Sam on the other hand, went from room to room, in complete wonder at the things she got to witness. Her brain still couldn’t cope with the lightning bursting from Zoey’s hands while Alex analyzed the extent of the damage her killer rays inflicted, and took the time to paint a picture for Emma. By the time she decided to check on Mia, Zoey was almost in full control of her levitating body.
Jasper had taken up training with Mia, but to Sam’s surprise, she wasn’t doing any tricks. Instead, she sat in something that looked like a dentist’s chair, all sorts of wires connected to her temples and fingers. An intersat hung low enough for her to read the coordinates and access her portalling skills. Judging by what she saw, Jasper was more into understanding how she was accessing her enhancement and how her mind responded to certain triggers. His face though, didn’t give anything away, so when Sam actually reached Lilou’s private quarters, Rufus was fully immersed in mind control.
Experiencing this live was mind-blowing.
“Pretty cool, huh?” Lilou felt Sam’s presence behind her chair. “I wonder how he’s projecting thoughts into her head—like the science behind it.” Sam’s eyes grew wider as she saw the skin nearly melting off his face. Liquefying at its finest, and it was not for the faint of heart—layers and layers of skin dissolving into each other like soft wax and sliding off. If it made her stomach turn, it was bad. “Time!” Lilou announced and they both followed Rufus regaining his natural shape.
“I’m never going to unsee this.” Sam’s baffled expression met the frail optan lady on the other side. “Is she an intern or something?”
Her question remained unanswered, as Lilou’s focus was on the many symbols flashing on the intersat. She tapped her kalenium and announced: “Lunch!”
γ
All the hybrids needed a shower, but none dared to interfere with the agreed schedule. The sticky walk was penitence enough for the earlier endeavors, with Zoey’s t-shirt sticking to her skin in bits and places while soaked Rufus practically dripped with every step. He didn’t seem to care though, Mia’s hand finding his as soon as they left the training room.
Alex and Lilou walked ahead, knowing the narrow hallways like the back of their hands. Behind them, the herd of humans and hybrids followed suit speaking in a low voice. Jasper’s kalenium vibrated and he was left walking a good distance behind them, checking stats.
Unsurprisingly, the lunch room presented itself optanless with tables evenly spread left, right and center. The breakfast buffet had been replaced with all sorts of casseroles and steaming hot meals. To Zoey, it smelled exactly like the St. Andrew’s cafeteria which brought a certain sadness in the dance of her brows. By the time Jasper walked through the doors, they were all gathered around the buffet.
“The Chancellor’s calling,” he announced as Lilou’s and Alex’s kaleniums lit up. “They’re requesting us upstairs.” After such a training session it wasn’t a surprise to watch Lilou reply with a frown.
They left before any ever got a chance to ask, so Sam gravitated toward Mia and whispered over her shoulder. “Hey, I never got a proper hug.” Her face though, spoke louder than words. She looked happier than Sam had ever imagined.
“I know.” Mia spun around and wrapped both arms around Sam. “I have to give everyone a proper hug this time around.” Before she got a chance to, the doors buzzed, startling humans and hybrids alike.
Plates in hand, they all watched as Gerard and Aline made their way in. Although Rufus’s memory of them on Paseo Sarasate had been erased, Zoey still remembered how Aline’s body was thrown into one of the statues of the promenade, splintering it. She also remembered Gerard making a run to retrieve his partner’s body before his calf was nearly shattered. Thinking that James had been at the core of so much destruction nauseated her. Two other men in dark blue uniforms lumbered behind the only optan couple Mia had ever seen.
The soldiers stopped short, eyeing the hungry crowd expressionless. It was enough for Mia to scan them all, getting a clear glimpse of their hands. They were holding small triangular shaped weapons, the same she’d seen on display in Pamplona.
Her body stiffened, instinctively shielding Sam on her right.
“Um, what’s going on?” Sam asked, as she set the plate to a side.
Mia’s body shifted, and now Sam became well aware she was being shielded. Craning her neck, she shot Zoey a questioning stare. Zoey’s eyebrows went up in return. They were both as clueless.
When Gerard spoke, he took a step forward too. “I’m afraid we received new orders.” His cold glance landed on Emma. “I’d freeze you if I could, but only an ambassador can do that.” It was enough for Zoey to understand something went terribly, horribly wrong. Her brain switched to autopilot as she positioned herself in front of Emma and scanned the four optans. When Aline moved her fingers over the sansi—the geometric weapon—Rufus felt a cold shiver in return.
“Sonofabitch, it’s another training test!” He eyed Mia, as the words quickly escaped his mouth. Jasper’s words rang in his ears and he began scanning every angle.
Mia didn’t waste time either. Many times Lilou had warned them about what it took to be a soldier, fighting uneven battles and going for the unpredictable factor. She then launched herself at Aline, knocking the sansi out of her hand with a side kick. Rufus moved swiftly to her side, pinning Aline’s body to the ground with a steady knee. When the two soldiers darted for him, Zoey was quick to launch forward, accessing her thunder which came crashing violently against the first soldier’s chest. He was propelled across the room in a heartbeat. It even gave Rufus time to high five her.
When Aline took ahold of Mia’s body, there was a mad flicker in her eyes. She punched her, crashing her body against the nearest table with a loud thump.
“No, you fucking didn’t!” Rufus crunched his neck sideways and was on her again, leaving himself exposed against Gerard who lunged at him limbs up like a ninja. His massive hands were buried around Rufus’s neck as he pinned him down with a loud crack. Vision hazed every time he squeezed. It didn’t feel like a game. Rufus’s eyes rolled back, his ribcage spasming hard. He was being chocked and Mia was still collecting herself. A bolt stuck Gerard, and his knees succumbed to the floor with an ear-splitting noise. His uniform had been burned were Zoey hit him, but he didn’t seem as affected as the previous soldier.
He’s fucking bleeding! Sam thought and grabbed a couple of dishes, shooting at Gerard’s head. When he collapsed to the floor Sam launched herself at Gerard, shoving a knee in his throat. She tore an elbow through his chest and got up, eyeing the only soldier who never made a move. It was like he was somehow, analyzing the way they fought.
Mia was now up, and what followed next was hard to describe. She pulled at Aline’s ponytail and rolled it around her hand, pulling her down and smashing her perfect nose against the wall. Blood pumped, as Mia’s hand hit the floor, dragging Aline in a sea of blue. She was back before anyone felt her absence, checking on Rufus with startled eyes and a broken lip. He had a wound at the base of his neck, running in thick red lines down his t-shirt.
Zoey’s mind raced, trying to make sense of it all. This couldn’t have been a test. A flush of panic washed over her as she watched Sam coming eye to eye with the optan soldier that was no longer still. Accessing her enhancement felt difficult this time around, like she couldn’t grasp it. There was no time, so she sprang toward him, jumping on his back, locking her legs around his torso and clasping her hands around his neck. A second later he leaped in the air and twirled just enough to make her lose balance. Before she knew it, she was freefalling, her life flashing before her eyes at the speed of light.
The moment Zoey hit the floor, all air left her lungs.
She’d fallen with her head to a side, getting a panoramic view of Emma who was running to her. Her vision blurred, but she could swear th
e soldier knocked Emma off senseless and onto her back with a deaf noise. Telekinesis was happening. Chairs and cutlery now darted for Emma at impressive speed.
Emma’s eyes narrowed on the soldier’s face as he produced a small seemingly sharp object from his sleeve. She was being hit from every direction. Zoey’s throat made a noise her brain was unaware of, and despite the sharp pain, she flew toward him again. How his fingers arched around Emma’s neck with chemical precision, she didn’t know, but he had her feet dangling into thin air. She couldn’t breathe, chocking as he crushed her neck in his grasp.
“Emma!” Zoey’s voice came hoarse as she crawled with her last bits of energy to grab at his legs. She did, and as she curled her fingers around his ankle, she struck him with whatever force was inside her, until he crumbled to the floor along with Emma. Neither of them moved.
She tried to drag her body closer to Emma’s. “No! No!” Blood soaked her lips as she spoke, a gush of pain jolting at the back of her head. With all she had left, Zoey tried to lift her body, propping her shaking hands against the marble.
Her head was pounding.
Rufus flew through her eyes, blasted by a soldier who eyed him like prey. He groaned, his body bruised and bloody as his frame slammed against the hard floor. She had to get to Emma, although her legs failed to respond. The soldier thrust his foot forward, shoving it against Rufus’s ribcage until blood came overflowing from his mouth. This was a horror show. Despite her best efforts, Zoey’s neck felt stiff. She couldn’t turn around to find Sam.
“Stop it! He’s hurt!” Her screams did nothing to derail the soldier from his course.
Sam found Gerard and stomped her foot hard against his neck to prevent him from getting up when she was nearly blinded by a gust of blue.
Jasper, Alex and Lilou landed less than ten feet away. It was then when Sam saw Emma sprawled on the floor and unconscious. A fraction was all it took for Gerard to catch her off guard and pull her under.
Found in Amber Page 9
