"Did you get a good look at him?" I asked.
"No, he never took off his glasses. He hides in plain sight. Still, I did get in a few punches," he smiled. Even Ajax smiled.
"Did the rest of your team know they wanted Kaia?" Ajax asked.
"Not at first, but I wasn't thinking clearly. I was angry. I couldn't believe a resister would think I would turn over a fellow Athlete."
"What did you tell the Crusaders?" Ajax demanded, all tense again, but my mind wandered away from them. One of the loose ends had just come together in my head. I remembered where I'd seen the two heads before, one dark and one light. I tried to focus on Ajax and Atticus in front of me, but my pulse quickened. There was somewhere else I wanted to go.
"I told Trevor Burke. I don't know who he told. Kaia, I'm sorry. I didn't realize what I was doing. I thought it was sort of a joke, frankly, or just part of the mission, like a test or something."
"When did you decide it wasn't a joke?" Ajax persisted, looking more troubled by the minute.
Atticus's whole body stiffened. "The Commander—" He choked, bringing his hands up to his throat as if it hurt to say the words.
"He questioned you guys?" Ajax put his hands on Atticus's shoulders and shook him.
"Yes. And I didn't tell him. But I was the only one. The others, they all told Commander Renier the Resistance asked for a trade. And Trevor, he told them they asked for Kaia." Ajax dropped his hands and my stomach dropped to the floor.
"Where have you been, Atticus?" I asked again.
He looked at me, his eyes full of pain and sorrow. "He questioned me again. He brought me back in, and he questioned me for what felt like days. Kaia, forgive me. I wasn't strong enough to hold out on him. He, he—" he stammered before letting his voice trail off completely. Then he composed himself again. "Now I'm not even sure who the good guys are anymore. Maybe I should turn you over to the Resistance. Maybe I should save you. That's what the blonde one said, that he would save you."
"Is that why you brought us here?" Ajax grabbed his shoulder angrily. "You brought us down here to try and make a trade with her?"
"No! No," he insisted, and then he fell to his knees and took my hands. "I came here to say, whatever happens, I'll follow you. I'll be loyal to you." He bowed his head at me as he squeezed my hands. There was fear all around him — fear, sorrow, anxiety.
"Get up, Atticus," I told him gently. "I'm not going anywhere."
Atticus stood up.
"Actually," I continued, "I am going somewhere. I need to go see Professor Baal." I was already off campus, I was wide awake, and I wanted some answers.
"Right now?" Ajax looked at me in disbelief. "We can't go see her now."
"I'm tired of this," I told him. "I'm tired of guessing, and of not knowing the truth. I'm going to see her, and I'm going alone."
Ajax stared at me; they both did. There'd been a lot of tension between Ajax and me again. He sensed that I was pulling away from him, and he resented it when I trained alongside Caden or Balor instead of him, but so far, he'd held his tongue. He didn't fight for me, or demand to train next to me. He simply let me go, just as I knew he would tonight.
"Go then," he said bitterly.
"No! Kaia, no! You can't go wander off alone in the dark. They're out here. They want to get you alone."
"I can take care of myself," I insisted. Ajax had already turned away from me and headed back toward the path. Atticus stood still, unsure what to do.
"Ajax!" he called after him, "You're just going to let her go?" Ajax didn't even turn around to answer. "He's letting you go?" Atticus was incredulous.
"I'll see you around okay?" I told him, trying not to let my disappointment show. I left Atticus standing on the beach and found the path leading up to the grid. I didn't look back; I assumed Atticus would follow Ajax. He needed to cross back to the University before the guards woke up. I would cross back when I was ready, and I would face whatever consequences I had to.
It wasn't Professor Baal I ran into, however, when I reached the top of the path. Jason Paris stood there, watching my ascent. He didn't have a hood on and he wasn't wearing black. Instead, he wore blue jeans and a dark blue, long-sleeved t-shirt. His blonde hair fell across his forehead and his hands were shoved into his pockets. As far as I could see, he was alone, but I hesitated anyway, keeping my distance but not running from him. I left a few meters as a buffer between us.
"Hello, Kaia," he greeted me with a friendly smile.
His face, so much like Ajax's, was different too, because where Ajax's face could look harsh or glum, Jason's was open and relaxed. He looked happy. Did they really look so much alike? I asked myself. They really did, they were like twins in different shades. My skin tingled at the sight of him, handsome and tall, wearing regular clothes, and looking at me as if I was the only girl in the world.
"What do you want Jason? Did you bring your net?" I didn't forget the ropes the resisters had out on the rocks the night Ajax and I paid a visit to the building. Jason pulled his hands out of his pockets and held them up so I could see them.
"No nets," he smiled, "It's just me."
"How did you know I would be here?"
"It's good to have the cave dwellers as friends. They see everything that goes on down at the beach."
"What do you want?" I asked again, mentally kicking myself for not having thought of that. I hadn't seen any cave dwellers, but that didn't mean they hadn't seen me.
"I just want to talk. Can we do that? No tricks. Just you and I, talking. You can ask me anything."
I took a step backwards. "No," I answered, pulse quickening. I didn't think it was a good idea to be alone with him for any length of time.
"There's nothing you want to ask me?" He tilted his head to the side and gave me a quizzical look. There were a lot of things I wanted to ask him. "Sit with me. Just talk to me. You can leave whenever you want."
"I can talk to you from right here," I answered, keeping my distance. "Why do you want me?" He smiled slowly, and in a way that brought a flush to my cheeks, though I wasn't sure why.
"Now that's a loaded question. Why do I want you? Look in the mirror, Kaia."
"No," I shook my head, frustrated. "Why does the Resistance want me? Why did you ask for me in the ruined city?"
"We believe you are special and have the ability to unite people, make them follow you." It wasn't the answer I expected, but I didn't have any idea what to expect.
"Follow me into what?" I laughed nervously. It was still hard to believe this was all real and that he was serious. If it wasn't for those nets…
"Into the future," he answered, walking toward me. I didn't back away. I figured I had two choices; I could turn around and go back the way I came, or I could continue walking toward Professor Baal's as I originally intended. I chose to walk. There was no way I would sit with Jason, but I wasn't ready to go back to my dorm either. As I walked, I kept to the cliffs at the edge of the grid, taking the long way around, worried, even with the late hour, about being seen with a resister in the streets. Jason fell into step beside me, close enough for me to smell the mixture of salt and sun emanating from him, a scent that reminded me of home.
"That doesn't make any sense," I answered, exasperated. "If you caught me with those ropes, what did you plan to do with me? It doesn't seem like the right way to unite someone to your cause, whatever it is."
"Okay, true enough. But we are hopeful. We feel if you would only spend time with us, hear what we have to say, then you would stay of your own accord. If you did come home with me, Kaia, you could sleep where I sleep and I would never turn away from you. If you slept with me, I would teach you exactly what it means to be loved, in every sense of the word."
"What did you say?" I asked, my knees going weak. "How do you know anything about where I sleep? I don't know you," I answered, swallowing my nervousness.
"You could get to know me," he nudged my shoulder but I took a step away, then stopped walking altogeth
er and looked him in the eyes. "Just come with me for a night and I'll tell you all my secrets," he persisted.
"Why? You took out a net, to what? Try to catch me in it? You threaten to abduct me and you're nasty to Ajax, who's the best friend I have. How is that winning me to your cause? And if I did go with you willingly, what kind of person would that make me? What kind of person walks away from all the people she loves and why would you want such a person?"
"You are too hard on yourself," he shook his head at me. "It would make you the kind of person who wants to learn more about her planet and about another way of life. You wouldn't be abandoning anyone. We would never keep you from those you love. We would only hope that they would join us as well."
I studied his face and watched as the breeze lifted his hair and then let it fall into his eyes again. I reached out and touched him, brushing my fingers along his cheek. He didn't pull away, he stepped closer. I put my hand in his hair and felt it between my fingers. He was older than I was, older than Ajax, older, probably, than my brother. There was a confidence about him I found attractive.
"Who are you?" I whispered, my fingers still in his hair. "Is it a trick?"
"Is what a trick?" he didn't move and some of his feelings leaked out. He wanted me to touch him. He wanted more from me. I pulled my hand away.
"The way you look so much like him?"
"No," he reeled his feelings in and his mouth set in a hard line. He didn't like the question.
"Who is your mother?" I asked, but I already knew the answer, didn't I? I thought about the two heads bent together, the ones I'd seen in the food lab with Professor Baal. They'd been carving jewelry. Was he wearing some of it? I couldn't see any.
"Abra," he answered. "Once she was called Abra Parlato. Before that, Abra Decoud. Now she goes by Abra Paris. Or just Abra."
I could feel my heart thud against my chest when he said it out loud. "She's the white haired lady in my dreams?"
"Yes."
"She didn't die then?"
"No, she didn't die. She had two children"
"Twins?" I guessed.
"Yes."
"Does Professor Baal know her sister is still alive?"
He shook his head. "I can't answer that. I can only answer questions about myself. It's not fair for me to do otherwise."
"It's also not fair for you to threaten to capture me against my will," I pointed out. "Or to kiss me without asking. Or to be rude to your cousin, Ajax. Why do you hate him?"
"I don't hate him. I'm jealous of him. Do you know how that feels? I'm jealous of him and it makes my stomach sick. I can't stand the way you look at him, the way you talk to him, the way you sleep in his room every night. It should be me. I want that so badly and he has no idea what he has. That isn't fair." We started to walk again, through the neighborhood now and toward the street where my home was, approaching it from the end farthest from the University.
"But it makes no sense!" I insisted. "I don't know you like I know him. I didn't grow up with you. It isn't as if we are old friends; we've only just met."
"In your eyes that may be true. But in mine, I have known you my whole life. You have been my future since before I was born. Give me a chance, come spend a night with me and I will tell you, show you, just how much I do know you."
I wanted to know what he knew about me and how, but there was no chance I would go with him — not without Ajax.
"Are you an Unviable too, then?" I asked. I already knew Abra had lost children to the plague.
"There is no such thing," he answered.
"What does that mean?" I asked, heart threatening to burst with hope inside my chest.
"Come back with me and I'll tell you."
I didn't want to, but I did want to stop walking and make him tell me exactly what he meant about there being no such things as Unviables, however, as we walked through the neighborhood, I could sense people. They stood in the shadows, watching as we passed. I needed to get back to the University. Once I was close enough, there would be nothing they could do to me with the guards standing by. I had other questions for Jason.
"Why does the Resistance think I'm special?"
"We think you are the first of your kind: part human, part Descender," he answered plainly. The air stood still around me and I felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck. What was he saying?
"My parents are human," I whispered. It sounded like a plea. "My brother is human."
"Yes, they are," he answered. We passed the Baal house, my parents' house, Derek's. All were dark. I kept walking. I wanted to go back to the University, back to Ajax. The people in the shadows started stepping out. They followed behind, keeping some distance between themselves and the two of us. "You represent a new branch on the evolutionary tree. You're born of human parents, yet you have advanced DNA, resembling our alien stewards. As far as we know, you are the first of your kind."
I stopped walking and the people behind us melted away into the shadows again. Ahead of us was the line of Virtual Guards. Another ten meters or so, and I would make it back to campus.
"You don't know that," I insisted, my mouth going dry.
"I do," he answered, looking down at me in the dark.
"What is Ajax? What are you?" He had just told me he thought I was some sort of hybrid human and I was still trying to process the information.
"We're hybrids, too," he answered, "But not in the same way. We were bred that way."
Bred that way? It was too much. I didn't want to hear anymore. I turned and began to walk away again. Jason followed me. Across the line of Virtual Guards, I could see Ajax, waiting for me. Relief flooded through my body, head to toe.
Ajax, I called to him, but received no answer. He was upset with me but he still waited for me, making sure I got home safely. Behind me the people emerged from the shadows and crept closer.
"You said no tricks, Jason. You said I could leave when I wanted." I kept my eyes on Ajax as my anxiety grew. There were a lot of people behind me; I could feel them. Whether in the shadows, or out in the open — where had they all come from?
"I can only keep them away from you for so long. Come with us Kaia, even if it's only for the night. There is so much more to tell you."
I quickened my pace.
"No." I replied. As I neared the guards, they sprang to life, sensing the energy of all those approaching bodies. I held up my wrist so they could read my distress. They were highly trained on sensing human emotions, which was one of the reasons they could be so effective. If they sensed any sort of elevated emotion, they could be moved to detain you or attack you, if threatened by the feeling of your energy. It was hard to tell what they sensed from the Resistance, but they sensed my own distress and started to move toward me. They would surround and protect their Athlete.
Before it came to that, Ajax's orb came flying across the line, sending a blast of energy right at Jason Paris. He and several others were knocked to the ground. Jason was momentarily stunned, but quickly recovered, and reached for his own orb (they had orbs! another surprise). He made to throw it at Ajax, but I grabbed his arm fervently.
"No!" and then I called out, "Guards!" and they surrounded me.
Jason lowered his arm and said in my head, You're making a mistake. It doesn't have to be one or the other. Just come with me for the night and you can return here in the morning.
And maybe I was making a mistake, I didn't know. But I did know I wanted to get back to Ajax and I cared what he thought of me and how he would feel about seeing me with Jason Paris. One of the guards scanned my wrist properly and the word BREACH flashed across his mask in large red letters. My stomach fell to the floor. I didn't have permission to leave campus and I would definitely pay the price for breaking the rules, as well as for the energy used by the guards.
Goodnight Kaia, I'll see you soon, were Jason's parting words to me. I said nothing in return.
The Resistance melted back into the shadows and I joined Ajax. He gave me a sharp
look, and then turned away from me and began walking swiftly back to the dorms. I rushed to keep up with him.
Ajax! I pleaded in his head, but he didn't stop, didn't turn, and didn't say a word to me. When we got back to our rooms, he still didn't speak. Instead he walked straight into his room without looking at me and let the door shut behind him.
I knocked at his door and rested my forehead against it.
"Ajax!" I called, but to no avail. Of all the nights for him to shut me out, this was the one where I desperately wanted to talk to him, to share all Jason had told me, and have him help me figure out what was true and what we thought Jason was making up.
Leave him alone, I reminded myself, before giving up and heading for my own room. Tory wasn't in there and I hadn't really expected she would be. I was never in there, so why should she be? I knew she spent most of her time with Malik, but I wished for some company just then.
I sat on my bed and stared out the windows as my emotions swirled inside of me like a hurricane. I tried to push them away, to stifle the queasy feeling in my stomach, but it was too hard. 'There is no such thing', Jason had said, about Unviables, but what did he mean? Did it mean there was nothing wrong with Ajax's genes? Would it make a difference to him if that were true? I didn't want to let that hope build inside of me. Thankfully, I couldn't dwell on it too long because my thoughts were interrupted by the buzz of my mailbox. I reached for it eagerly, expecting Ajax — who else would call at this hour? But it wasn't him.
"Hello, Kaia," Cadmus's face filled the screen. Once again, I was taken aback by his presence and the way it filled the entire room.
"Hello, Cadmus," I answered, surprised by the unexpectedness of the call.
"I hear you were out with that resister this evening. What were you doing with him?" His manner was calm, even if his words seemed a little harsh. There was no accusation in his tone, but rather concern. His blue eyes had an indigo hue about them, just a tinge of purple, framed by long, dark lashes. His sandy colored hair was pushed away from his face, and he looked worried and tired.
"I wasn't out with him," I explained. "I was going to pay a visit to your mother and there he was, waiting for me. He always seems to know exactly where I am, where I've been, and where I'm going. It's maddening."
The Energy Crusades Page 24