The Magic Wakes (11 page)

“I would really like to know what kind of fairy tale drives and sustains them. I may have a way to do a little digging in that direction. I’ll make it a priority.”

Landry left the room and headed for the SEF offices. Everything he had learned about Miss Zaryn pointed to her as a prime candidate for Signum recruitment.

“Did you build this yourself?” Admiration filled his voice as he examined the seamless welding work along the casing and panels. He ran his fingers down the curve of the sphere.

Heat flushed Talia’s face at the reverence in the motion. She liked the obvious respect her work elicited from him.

“Yes, I did.” She reached for her necklace, rubbing circles as she wondered at his motives.

“Tell me what it does.”

“Here, it’s easier to show you.” Talia stepped behind the computer and typed in the command to run the start-up operation.

A low hum came from the sphere as it raised itself a foot off the floor with gravitational lifters. The metal banding rotated around the center of the sphere as panels opened over the surface. A mesh filament made of thin steel and aluminum alloy unrolled along two of the sides. Her baby unfurled its wings.

“Once in orbit around one of the moons, the wings open to collect solar energy for power. The other panels collect the data.”

She entered the next command and the sphere lit up. She pointed to a light panel. “These lights give a reference point of view. It allows the on-board computer to accurately predict the location, distance, and temperature of heavenly bodies in relation to the satellite’s location.”

“How will this data differ from the satellites already in orbit?” He watched the satellite hover in the air.

“Current satellites use photo imagery and focus on Sendek or the moons, but this one has no optical cameras and will focus outside of our solar system. It senses and records heat and light readings. Here, I’ll make a map of this room so you can see it in action.”

Talia typed the final command.

Sutton ducked under one of the wings and came to stand by her to view the computer screen. It showed a blurry outline of the lab in shades of blue and green with pockets of yellows and reds marking other computers in the room.

Talia centered the screen to focus on their location. The computer marked their position with human silhouettes in yellow, orange, and red, with cooler greens on the edges.

“Is this real time?” Sutton spoke softly.

“Yes, watch.” Talia lifted her right arm and moved it at the same time as her outline on the screen.

As she lowered the arm, it brushed Major Sutton’s shoulder. A surge of electrical energy startled her, and she let her hand slide down his arm to rest at his wrist. There was a pop as skin touched skin, the discharge of built up static electrons. The shock did not end at their fingertips, but radiated up their arms and throughout their bodies.

With that one touch, emotions and whispers of thought flowed between them. Talia felt the Major’s curiosity, mistrust, and surprise. The whispers organized themselves into clear thoughts, and Talia realized they were questions.

What are the Signum up to? Does she work for them?
Over and over.

She wondered how it was possible to feel his emotions and hear his thoughts. Then she focused on his face. Intense blue eyes stared at her with the same look that must have been on her face—surprise, curiosity, determination.

Can he hear my thoughts?

“Stop!” Talia backed away, retreating as the voice and emotions drained away. Turning to the wall, she leaned her forehead against the cool concrete. “Who are the Signum? Is that the group that’s been raiding our supplies?”

When she turned back to face him, he was composed once more. If she expected him to look surprised or shocked at the question, she was disappointed.

“Miss Zaryn, would you care to tell me how you came to be associated with them?”

“I have never heard of the Signum until now, and you know that. What just happened? You know something. I can see it in your eyes. I need to know what you heard from my mind.”

“Why, because you might have to kill me?” He followed the joke with laughter.

Talia might have enjoyed the sound of it falling from his lips if she’d not been so scared.

“What interests me is you’re more worried about what I heard from your mind than the fact we could hear each other. Why is that?” He walked to her, stopping just inches away.

Talia’s face flushed and her insides went weak at his nearness. Her body drifted toward his as if he had his own gravitational pull. Yet her mind recoiled from the thought of him invading her thoughts again.

The cement wall cooled Talia’s back while heat from Sutton’s body warmed the air in front of her.

“What if I told you I caused this?” She hoped her honesty would move him a step or two back.

Instead, he stretched out his arms, placed his hands on the wall to either side of her head, and leaned closer. Pinned to the wall, she turned her face away in an effort to put more space between them.

“Is that the secret you’re so desperate to keep?” His breath was warm on her cheek, his voice low.

Talia turned back to him, their faces so close she could see every fleck of deep blue in his electric eyes. She exhaled. “It appears you have secrets of your own worth hiding.”

He stepped back, but his eyes never left Talia. He stepped forward in one quick motion and grabbed both of her hands.

At the touch, raw electricity surged between them. It was almost as strong as the rise of the suns, but it contained a unique visceral quality. In milliseconds, the energy flowed throughout Talia’s body, renewing her from the draining effect of days without absorbing the sunsrise.

Talia tried to wipe all thoughts from her mind, as the wave of emotions and thoughts bombarded her privacy. The feelings were jumbled and confusing, as if Sutton made a conscious effort to mislead her while trying to discern her thoughts.

Well, two could play at that game. If he wanted emotion, Talia would give him the strongest emotion she could.

She forced herself to remember the day her brother Roan died. The despair, fear, and loneliness washed over her. As she visualized the video clip of the crash, Talia fought back tears and focused on the whisperings coming from Landry’s mind. She wanted to know what he was looking for.

Closing her eyes, she focused her energy outward, up through his arms and into his skull. In her mind’s eye, she ran through hallways full of closed doors searching for him. As she closed in on his mental image, Sutton turned away from her.

Fear washed over her and she didn’t know if it was hers or his. And then he stopped running.

Did you really underestimate my intelligence?
Talia hurled the thought at him, and he turned back to her in his mind.

No. I’ve never underestimated your focus.
His voice sounded clear and surprisingly calm.

How many times have you had a conversation with someone inside their head?

Sutton tried to dodge the question, but Talia heard the whispered
never before
bouncing around in their shared space.

Never before? Then why doesn’t this scare you?

He let go of her hands and stepped away. The connection slipped away and Talia panicked for a moment at the emptiness he left behind.

“It doesn’t scare me because it doesn’t scare you. At least not in the way it should.” He stumbled past the rows of worktables and out the door.

After a moment, Talia followed but he had already made it through the second door by the time she walked through the air filter.

She watched from the doorway as he entered the elevator. His face, pale and strained, disappeared behind the metal doors.

What should I do now? Run or wait it out?

The Major was too close to her secret, but he might keep it in order to protect his own.

Talia walked back through the filter and into the lab. When she reached the satellite, she noticed it was still recording. She turned it off and shut the systems down one by one before reviewing the stored data stream.

She watched the first accidental touch, with a momentary flair of heat at the contact points and in their cerebral cortexes, but it quickly faded. She watched herself cross to the back wall. When Sutton followed, she could see how both bodies warmed with the proximity to each other.

It made her blush again to see her own body betray her. He stepped back and then . . . the second contact.

Both outlines heated up, turned completely red within seconds and pulsed. What did it mean? Watching the time stamp, she could see that the connection only lasted a few minutes, and when he let go of her hands their outlines returned to normal.

Talia played it again, but this time she slowed it down enough to see that their hands turned darker before they touched. A tiny spark of energy formed—no, four tiny sparks—one on each hand. The energy jumped and connected in the air just milliseconds before skin touched.

She replayed it repeatedly, unable to make sense of it.

When the elevator doors closed, Landry sagged against the back wall. He had never experienced anything like the connection with Miss Zaryn and it left him weak and drained. If she had the same ability to read other people’s emotions as he did, she would be an invaluable tool for the Signum.

He had questions that needed answers, and yet all he could think about were the words her subconscious sent him during that first contact.

Save me. Why can’t you save me?
There was such desperation associated with that thought.

It was all he could do to continue playing the game, but his training had prevailed. Never give in, finish what you start.

But he had given in. The second contact wasn’t to learn about the Signum, but what she needed saving from. He couldn’t help it, something deep within him needed to play hero.

As he traveled back to the palace, he thought of the images in her mind. She had tried to misdirect him with the memories of her brother’s death and unknowingly opened a door to her subconscious. Every image came clearly to him as if he watched the news nets.

Before she turned the tables on him, he saw his beloved city in flames. Creatures from the sky destroying and murdering in the city he had sworn to protect. What was the word he heard in connection with them?

Dragumon.

The word sent a chill through him. With the palace in sight, he thought of the King’s legend of dragon-like humanoids. As absurd as it had sounded, he now wondered if it were possible. What if he had just seen them in Miss Zaryn’s memories? What would that mean? How would she know about them if she were not privy to the Signum’s secret legends?

Everything that he had seen and learned over the last few days pointed to Miss Zaryn being a member of the Signum, but he didn’t find any trace of a connection to them inside her mind.

Something about her words “Save me” haunted him. If she was being used by the Signum, it was not by choice. But if they were, Miss Zaryn might lead him to Werner.

He needed to figure out how to control the flow of information between them. There should be a way for him to listen while blocking her out of his mind.