“So you want to see where this goes?” He murmured against her lips. Although he probably intended it like the most innocent of questions, it didn’t come out that way. The way he said it, with those flickering amber eyes piercing through her as if he could read into her soul managed to disarm her. Not that Zoey felt particularly armed under the circumstances.
Her heart leaped into her throat and she became aware of what he made her feel—waves and waves of flutter tumbling against each other. And it wasn’t the toe-curling sex or the completely different side he’d shown her. It was him as a whole.
“Yes.” She couldn’t have said it quicker, taking shelter against his chest before he ever got a chance to look at her.
Jasper’s chin rested against her hair for a moment; there was some sort of peace and some sort of torment in the way his arms came around her. Zoey was still baffled trying to make sense of the thrill and terror warping around her consciousness as she pressed her cheek harder onto his shirt. Thoughts became silent, and she allowed herself the intimacy—the feeling of being in the only place where she fit like nowhere else. If she could stop time, she selfishly would, right there.
γ
It was 12:01 and it had been a little over an hour of handing Alex tool after tool as he worked his magic on the future sim card. It looked nothing like a sim card now but Alex did not flinch, working his precision under the magnifying glass. A strand of dark chestnut hair would sometimes branch out and graze his eyebrows, but he was always quick to work his fingers and brush it back into the textured flowy quiff.
“It’s gonna take a little over three hours building the processor from scratch.” Alex said, resting his elbows on the work station. They were somewhere downstairs, in a room that looked like an engineer’s dream and of which Emma couldn’t understand less of. A huge, sturdy table made of some sort of gray ceramic centered the room that was otherwise surrounded by multi-purpose cabinet walls from top to bottom. There seemed to be something he needed in every drawer, so a mountain of tools were piled on the table in front of them.
Emma stretched a little, glancing at all the “ingredients” needed to manufacture a sim card, and pulled her chair closer to Alex. This was surely bound to take hours.
“What are you hoping to hear from James?” She watched him stiffen and arch a brow in her direction as he removed the protective glasses.
It was the first thing he’d actually reacted to. “You knew him?” Alex was quick to return the question. “I mean, when he was Zoey’s partner?”
For Emma it felt like a billion years ago. “Yeah,” she let out a soft sigh “he was a nice, normal guy, very outdoorsy. Of course he traveled a lot and now it makes sense why, but—”
“But you couldn’t see it coming.” Alex leaned on the backrest, the light from his work station reflecting on his uniform in bits and places. “Just like we were unable to read the new Chancellor’s intentions. The previous Chancellor was nothing like that, you know. The Alliance itself is not like that, or at least it wasn’t.” He lowered his eyelashes to see Emma nervously wrapping and unwrapping a wire on her index finger. Humans were quirky like that.
“What if the Alliance is the wolf in sheep clothing? What if they’re more into politics than humanity?” Humanity—the word itself evolved around the condition of being human, yet she couldn’t find a better one. Emma had questions of her own, and trying to discover what motivated optans had become a priority as of this morning.
She watched Alex shifting in his seat, her question obviously raising a degree of discomfort. “The Alliance is about mutual development, sharing knowledge, tech, resources…” he paused for a moment “of course they have interests, because that’s how it works, but the good outweighs the bad and the main purpose is development rather than power per se.”
Getting Alex to talk—tick, gathering her guts to ask a possibly private question—tick again. “Is one bad apple reason enough to turn against your own and save us?” It somehow made sense for Jasper and Lilou to turn their backs against this new unpredictable side of the Alliance. Not so much for Alex from Tech and Maintenance, in Emma’s view.
“The new Chancellor you mean? I’m still debating it.” He didn’t elaborate, but a soft smile pulled at his lips. Protective glasses back on, Alex resumed his work, leaving Emma with the word on her lip. Nothing seemed to move him as he held his breath working with excessively delicate wires and small tools, like the universe’s most zealous intern.
γ
Rufus found himself outdoors, somewhere in the intricate maze, walking shoulder to shoulder with Sam. He kept his pace giddy as they followed Jasper to the opposite end from where Mia and Zoey were training. Although Jasper hadn’t muttered a word, Rufus knew his zero-distractions-while-training-policy too well.
“Have we reached the ass-end of the gardens yet?” Beside him, Sam was getting impatient. Rufus smiled, and she was quick to catch on. “Don’t you be giving me the puppy eyes, mister! You’re so unworthy of my present.” Her signature eye roll followed.
Rufus chuckled under his breath. Sam was bound to give him hell for those five rubbers for the rest of his days. “I never got a chance to thank you.” He didn’t turn to look at her, but felt Sam’s fist bumping against his shoulder. Being outdoors again felt great, the rich fragrant air flooding his lungs with an awkward sense of freedom. June felt great on his skin, even the small little garden insects stuck to his white shirt on this very long stroll felt like they belonged there. Even Jasper, who was usually a little too stern for his own good wore a lingering smile on his lips. Rufus watched him pacing steadily on the green path which opened to a small square surrounded by statues of dudes in tight pants and stiff poses.
Terrible times for men, Rufus thought, acknowledging their carved wigs and uncertain boots.
When Jasper turned around, Sam faced him with her hands folded across her khaki tank top. “What now?” Unsurprisingly, she had accepted her fate of being Rufus’s guinea pig for the greater good.
In just five short minutes, she was watching Rufus’s cherry cheeks tense against the pressure. Jasper had set them face to face and kept instructing him to empty his head of thoughts. She almost felt sorry watching the droplets of sweat forming on his forehead. He was concentrating so hard even his toes curled in his flip flops and Sam watched it all powerless.
Jasper though seemed to be quite tactful, gravitating around Rufus like a Lamaze coach, rubbing his shoulders and exercising his breathing. He’d rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt and kept signaling the part where Rufus was supposed to feel his enhancement, a bit below the chest area. Once in a while he’d get close to Sam and ask if she was okay. She just kept nodding.
This was excruciating and poor Rufus seemed to be getting nowhere. She listened to Jasper’s instructions and replicated them herself with the same success as her counterpart. Accessing the enhancement didn’t require the narrowing of eyes nor the holding of breath as if trying to ‘squeeze one out’ according to Jasper. It meant closing your eyes, finding that part within yourself and wielding it, reaching effortlessly and bending it to your will. Except Jasper actually had the training and necessary years of practice and he had the DNA to match his skill to perfection as he lightly lifted a nearby rock in demonstration. Images of Kung-Fu Panda crossed Sam’s mind in the two whole hours her ass was parked on the grass. At least now, she stood knee to knee with them, legs crossed under.
Across the gardens, on the very far end of the mind and body manipulation attempt, stood Lilou with her two graces. No intricate hedges surrounded them, as they were on a perfectly trimmed lawn. The occasional grasshopper served as distraction for Zoey who was now on her fifty-sixth round of producing a spark that wouldn’t even get her points with the girl scouts. Lilou had switched from cadet to cadet every thirty minutes, now allowing Mia to stretch her shoulders before the next round.
Contrary to Lilou’s expectations, Mia’s enhancement responded to her enough to extend from
the size of a tennis ball to the size of a bowling ball in a matter of hours. She couldn’t hold it though and the risk of having someone dismembered while portalling, terrified her to the point that even on her break, she fought to wield her skill.
“Give it time, Mia.” Lilou watched her with the corner of her eye as Zoey’s fingers ignited like a lighter in the rain. “It will come to you.”
Mia snorted and gave a faint nod. She didn’t have to say anything for Lilou to know that she was being her worst critic. She took it upon herself not to allow anything to happen to anyone anymore. The optan soldiers had caught her off guard, unprepared and emotionally shaken from getting Rufus back.
Never again, she promised and reached within, despite Lilou’s concerned frown.
Zoey curled her fingers and produced her first real spark since she started. “Look!” Wide eyed, she couldn’t help but smile at her small victory, meeting Lilou’s approving nod.
“Now hold it.” And the spark was gone before Lilou’s sentence was over. Despite the many questions at the start of the training session, there was no satisfying answer. They couldn’t just hold a piece of kalenium and be done with it, the bracelets were manufactured with special conductors which created a unique print to their now hybrid DNA. Alex couldn’t build anything remotely similar either. They were doomed to trial and error, with error being the main ingredient thus far. A long sigh followed and Zoey tried again.
γ
They were released from duty only when the sound of their growling stomachs got louder than their thoughts and Sam dragged her feet behind Jasper whose blonde man bun had nearly come undone. As if reading her thoughts, he was quick to restore it to perfection before taking the stairs to the huge stone terrace.
The view of the house presented itself staggering with the white arched French doors wide open, against the stone gray façade, the fluttering of the curtains becoming more and more visible with each step. Emma and Alex sat around the round table, awaiting the remaining members of this very unusual tribe. Nestled on the left corner of the terrace under a draped curtain of English ivy, they exchanged notes and nods like two nerds in a pod.
If Sam didn’t know any better, they looked as if they were on a date, Alex’s lips twisted in a shy smile and glancing at Emma among steaming casseroles and sesame buns.
“Where are the girls?” Sam’s question brought Alex’s features to their usual state of stiffness. Emma shrugged, watching Jasper head in. Two minutes later, Mia’s chestnut ponytail came bouncing on the stairs and it was enough for Rufus to cease breathing. That moment, right there, when she was still unaware of being watched as she giggled beside Zoey and rolled her sky blue eyes. That very moment when the sun rested on her shoulder like a golden patch and then took over her torso with every movement forward, making her glow in the June light. That moment was his to keep.
It took seconds before they locked eyes and Mia was still unsure how to act around him. This wasn’t the place to climb in his lap and wrap her arms around his broad frame, so she slid by his side and gave him a quick peck on the shoulder.
Apart from Lilou and Alex who were in their coverall uniforms and Jasper, they all looked like they were returning from the gym, sweat damp against their temples and white shirts. Anticipating there was no room for a quick shower, they all gathered around the table and dug in at Lilou’s command.
By the time Zoey was on her third round of broccoli, Jasper was still nowhere to be seen. Not seeing him felt out of place. Weird. Yet, this wouldn’t be the first time watching him take a step forward and two backwards. It had been their broken little foxtrot since they’d met. Unconsciously, she foxtrotted her remaining broccoli all over the plate, slow-slow, quick-quick. The right way, the normal way. The way real foxtrot worked.
Beside her, Sam was halfway through her chocolate pudding, sharing a laugh with Emma, their voices barely a hum. Concentrating on a particular conversation was useless, so Zoey stared into the distance while her fork still danced with the broccoli.
“Watch out!” Lilou’s warning voice snapped her out of the perpetual trance. Shit! Oh my God! How she managed to engulf that fork in pure lightning was beyond her. She threw it on the plate as if it burned and jumped off her seat. And she was not the only one. Twelve astounded eyes watched her from the proximity of the table, and not one human, optan or hybrid was sitting anymore.
“Are you okay?” Emma’s voice broke as she reached for Zoey’s shoulder. The second Emma’s fingers made contact she jumped back, shaking the shock out of her hand. Electricity. A bucketload of it too.
If it wasn’t for Lilou’s impish smirk, Emma would have freaked out entirely. But it all happened too quickly. “That was quite the discharge. I’d be quite proud if Emma’s fingers weren’t a little fried right now.” Lilou winked, trying to drape her arm around Zoey. She jumped back so fast she nearly tripped.
“Please, don’t come near me!” Shit! Shit! Shit! Panic rose in her throat and her chest was pounding, sending strong echoes to her already trembling fingers. She was reliving everything, the moment she touched Jasper slamming him against the kalenium screen and leaving him half dead, half unconscious. A million dark thoughts ran through her mind and not one pictured Emma in a healthy state.
She could’ve been next.
“Zoey…” Lilou pleaded, but the half deafness associated with accessing her enhancement only allowed Zoey to read her lips. A constant buzzing noise took over her ears. She backed off in the direction of the French doors, slamming violently into Jasper who was just making his way in. There was so much panic in her stare as he spun her around, practically begging with her eyes. She didn’t want to be touched.
“Jasper, don’t…” She pleaded, transfixed as she was. But his lips were on hers and his arms came around her too fast. It was just a quick kiss, but he shocked her back into reality and held her while she remembered how to breathe. Her limbs were barely twitching now under his hold and the temporary state of deafness prevented her from hearing the collective gasp.
Jasper cradled her head as his lips grazed her cheek. “Shh… you’re fine. Nothing happened.” He whispered. “You’re okay. Everyone’s okay.”
On the other side of this unexpected turn of events, stood the crowd with unhinged jaws. All except for Sam, who cocked an eyebrow and shook her head with a devilish grin and Lilou, who was refraining from facepalming herself. That was the one movement humans nailed to perfection and her palm was bound to meet her forehead in an imminent collision. When they saw Zoey turn around, they all made an effort to look composed.
Useless. She felt cross-examined by the crowd, all standing a little too stiff. When Jasper had told her he didn’t want to hide anymore, this was not what she thought he had in mind.
What the hell was he thinking? And just like that, she jumped from the fear of unleashing the lightning whip to the desire of being swallowed whole by the beautiful stone at her feet.
“I guess I owe you all an explanation,” Jasper started, resting his hands on her shoulders.
Rufus flashed a bright smile and popped a cherry in his mouth, pulling Mia a little closer. “You don’t owe me anything, but if you insist…” He winked at Sam over his shoulder.
“I think I do, since we’re all one big democratic team!” he resumed, looking straight at Lilou. “I don’t want to hide anymore because of all the things that I perceive as wrong, this isn’t one.” Zoey felt his hands sliding on the curve of her shoulders and along the lines of her arms. “We’ve both tried to go against it for what it’s worth.”
Alex’s head involuntarily dropped. “So it’s more than a fling?!” He asked, remembering he intercepted a conversation between Jasper and Zoey on Paseo Sarasate. “I know how this looks, but it doesn’t change the way I feel about you and I don’t care who knows it” were Jasper’s exact words. “How long has this been going on for?” Back on Paseo Sarasate, Alex didn’t give much thought to Jasper’s words. It could’ve meant anything, compas
sion, perhaps a little more than friendship, but certainly not this.
“Long enough.” Lilou folded her arms across the chest and scanned them as if they were out of their minds. But there was something more in the way she looked at Zoey. “And I can’t even blame you anymore. Even if by some sort of miracle we manage to get ahold of the right officials of the Alliance, there’s no actual guarantee that they’ll have a different approach from the officials back in Pamplona.” She shrugged, pursing her lips as she glanced at Alex. And their chances got thinner with each passing minute when their head was not in the game.
Emma’s fingers rested on her collarbone, her index finger tapping away with a mind of its own. There was no doubt in her mind Zoey deserved some sort of good karma, some sort of break from feeling like she was at the core of everything going wrong. And maybe this was it. A new beginning.
Zoey finally dared to speak. “I’ve never taken you for a pessimist, Lilou.” She took a step forward and looked her in the eye. “Look, we don’t even know what it is, but it feels wrong hiding it from all of you, since you mean so much to me. And to Jasper, I’m sure.” Without taking another breath, she grabbed Lilou’s hand. “I owe you guys my life. I owe you my friends’ lives. And we owe you all the truth.”
Watching Lilou exhale and shake her head as if saying ‘you’re both delusional, but alright’ was enough to restore Jasper’s sense of self. The thought of disappointing her hung heavy on his shoulders, and for the briefest of moments, his parents’ eyes flashed before him. His first out-of-this-world-mission turned out to be a far cry from what he imagined.
“Guys,” Emma interrupted, “can we just take a moment and celebrate something positive? I’m happy for you, Zoey, Jasper. And no authority in this universe should go against two people who feel for each other.”
Found in Amber Page 12
