by Eva Brandt
Ignoring the humanoid leader, I tried to focus on the others. Some of the remaining apsids were beast-like in nature. A creature that looked like a cross between a cockroach and a cat eyed me with an unblinking, golden gaze. A bipedal reptile tilted his head at me, his tail swaying back and forth at a hypnotic pace. The female creature next to Knox turned out to be a huge mass of volcanic rock. She waved at me with a hand that was as big as my head. A cluster of wriggling tentacles wriggled its way toward me. One of the strange limbs even curled around my leg. The leader stepped on it, making the mass of tentacles screech and withdraw. “Not now. We don’t have time for games. You know that.”
The creature let out a gurgling sound, as if it was sighing. The reptilian male rolled his eyes. “Spoiled brat.”
Everything about this whole exchange befuddled me. As a human being, I shouldn’t have been able to understand them. Apsids had their own language and no one on Earth had ever been able to decipher it. They had no reason to talk in English in my presence.
Their different forms and demeanor suggested an almost casual relationship of companions. If I’d been in the presence of a foe, I wouldn’t have displayed something like that. But I didn’t have time to question them any further. The apsid leader grabbed my arm and pulled me into his embrace. “I really am sorry about this,” he whispered. “It’s not my style to steal kisses from unwilling women. But we have no other choice.”
I gaped in shock at the unexpected warning. “Wait, you—”
Before I could finish my sentence, he crushed his lips to mine in a devastating, mind-melting kiss. As he thrust his tongue into my mouth, my brain screamed at me to free myself, to pull away and stop this. He was only a stranger and my enemy. But my body refused to obey and I found myself melting against his naked chest.
Heat flowed over me like a physical caress, pooling into my belly, making my breasts heavy and my nipples tighten. As he bit on my lower lip, I clutched his shoulders and let out a muffled moan.
He held me tighter, his erection nudging my hip. His voice drifted into my head in an intimate, gentle whisper. “You’re too beautiful for your own good, Selene Renard. I wish things were different.”
A million questions were on my mind, but I didn’t have the time or focus to ask them. His kiss changed and his teeth grew sharper. His embrace became painful, too tight, and I started having trouble drawing breath.
I should’ve struggled, but I didn’t. My knees went weak and I collapsed against him, completely at his mercy. It would’ve been so easy for him to destroy me on the spot.
I despised myself for my weakness, for feeling this strange want even if it made no sense. It felt like a betrayal, like I was spitting in the face of everything I’d shared with my lovers. But even knowing that, I couldn’t stop this.
An invisible, intangible claw reached into me, detaching something I hadn’t even known was there. It only took a moment and although it hurt, it wasn’t a pain I wanted to reject. It was almost as intimate as sex and my body responded to it in a way it had only responded to my lovers.
I wanted to cling to him and ask for more. I wanted to cry and scream. I wanted to hide. I did none of these things, because I didn’t have to.
He tore his mouth away from mine and stepped back. For a few seconds, he stared at me, scrutinizing my face with his glowing, golden eyes. If he was searching for answers, I couldn’t hear his questions.
“Thank you for your assistance, Ms. Renard. I hope I didn’t inconvenience you too much.”
My head cleared and I realized that at one point, I’d regained my ability to move on my own. “Somehow, I doubt you care about my feelings.”
“You’d be surprised,” he answered.
In the Cerberus, Knox let out a roar. “You’ll die for this! I’ll hunt you down and feed you to my chimera, piece by piece.”
The apsid leader shook his head, as if physically pushing aside a thought. “I find that very hard to believe, Flight Lieutenant Alexander, but by all means, I invite you to try. In the meantime, my companions and I will take my leave.”
He took my hand and kissed it in a strangely old-fashioned gesture. “Your Chimera Warriors are lucky to have you, Ms. Renard,” he said. “Good bye and good luck. I’m sure you’ll be able to accomplish whatever goals you set your mind to, no matter how grand they might be.”
Wait, what? He was leaving? Just like that? But I still had so many questions about this mysterious mission.
The apsids didn’t care about my opinion or sensibilities. I blinked and before I knew it, I was back inside the Sphinx, safe in the haven of my chimera’s cockpit. My display screens showed no alien heat signatures. The apsids had completely disappeared. If I hadn’t known any better, I would’ve thought the whole thing had been a strange dream. But my lips were still tingling with the heat left behind by the apsid’s kiss and I could still feel him reaching into me, touching my very core.
I wanted to believe the physical response had been forcibly induced, but I wasn’t sure that was true.
Knox’s familiar voice snapped me out of my trance. “Selene! Selene, are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I said quickly, realizing how the whole thing must have looked to Knox and how tough the situation was for him. Undoubtedly, he wanted to check up on me, but here on Mercury, it was unsafe and next to impossible. I’d never been more relieved about the lack of atmosphere on a planet. “We should take Charybdis and go before they come back.”
Knox didn’t argue with me, but I knew better than to believe he’d let the matter go just like that. As we took hold of Charybdis’s still form and headed back toward Hyperion Base 35, I tried to gather my scattered thoughts into a coherent plan.
One thing was certain. We couldn’t allow anyone to find out about our unexpected encounter with the apsids. Beyond that, everything else remained a confusing mystery.
I just had to hope we’d be able to get Charybdis back and return to Tartarus Base in one piece. Even being bullied at Chimera Academy was better than the insanity I’d had to face since the beginning of the tournament.
* * *
Pollux
For as long as I could remember, I’d had a love-hate relationship with fire. Ever since I’d been a child, I’d dreamed of becoming a chimera pilot. August and I had made grand plans to go to Chimera Academy together, and Stella had been right there with us, encouraging us, holding our hands and smiling warmly. We’d been stupid, because at the time, it hadn’t even occurred to us that we’d have to leave her behind to fulfill our dreams. She’d never mentioned it and never blamed us for our idiocy.
The last time I’d seen her, she’d hugged me and said, “Don’t ever give up on one another. I won’t give up on you, no matter what.”
In hindsight, I now realized she must’ve known she was going to die. My parents must’ve told her what they planned, although to this day, I couldn’t figure out why she hadn’t tried to dissuade them from their insanity. And now, here I was again, on the verge of losing someone important to me, helpless, unable to do a thing except watch.
August lay in the healing pod, monitored by the most advanced medical scanners in existence. His burns weren’t as bad as they’d been when we’d brought him on board and his blood tests had come out promising. But he hadn’t woken up again after his short exchange with Selene. The medics had dropped by, ushered him through a variety of tests, exchanged words and said his family needed to be notified of his condition. “The Grand Chimera Unit is his family,” I’d told them.
They’d shared looks I hadn’t been able to understand and replied, “In that case, we feel it necessary to warn you that you should be prepared for the worst. Ms. Renard’s assistance saved Flight Lieutenant Cavallero’s life, but the improvement might be temporary.”
At that, I couldn’t take it anymore. I’d tried so hard to keep my temper in check, because I knew how badly things could go if I lost it. But I had my limits and I’d reached them.
When I took a step forward, the metal floor cracked, splintering underneath my touch like it had been sliced right through by an unseen force. It would’ve been so easy to reach straight for the engines that kept Hyperion Base functional. I held back, but just because August was there. “Leave, before I make sure you end up in a worse condition than August.”
The medics finally displayed a level of self-preservation and fled. Left alone, I leaned against the wall and reached out to Scylla. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Scylla. How can we get out of this one?”
“You don’t need to do anything,” she replied. “August will get better soon. He’s very resilient to flame and your new broodmate helped in every other way.”
“Yes, but that’s not enough. I should’ve been able to protect him.”
“You can’t do everything on your own,” Scylla replied. “Breathe. Don’t panic. You haven’t lost anything and anyone. That’s what matters right now. And once Selene and Knox find Charybdis, our brood can be complete again.”
“You’re very confident,” I answered. “What if they fail?”
“They won’t. Selene Renard understands how important Charybdis is. She won’t let any of us die.”
I closed my eyes and thought about Selene. “Trust me on this,” she had said, and we had. She’d survived in the second trial of the tournament and had rescued August. But it was foolish to think that she could always manage to get us out of a rough spot. A lot of her recent successes had relied on her opponents underestimating her. If the king tried to eliminate her in the future, he’d be prepared for everything she had to throw at him.
“We’re pushing our luck. How much longer do you think Selene’s unexpected powers can help us?”
“For as long as it takes,” Scylla answered. “Don’t be afraid. You can do this.”
Right. I had to stay focused and not lose hope. This whole thing with Selene had thrown me off my game. I couldn’t fall apart every single time something went wrong. Stella wouldn’t have wanted me to turn into a train wreck at the mere thought of her. Selene and August were relying on me, and so were Knox and Brendan. For their sake, I had to stay strong.
As if summoned by my thoughts, Brendan opened the door to the med bay and stepped into the room. He was still dressed in his official, ceremonial uniform, and he looked like he’d gone two rounds in combat with Knox and lost. “I’d ask you how your meetings went, but I can see the answer all over your face. That bad?”
Brendan sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. “Worse. If you can believe it, General Savage was blaming August for the damage to Charybdis.”
I stared at him in shock. It hadn’t occurred to me that would be a problem, but of course, our superiors would make a fuss because of the lost chimera. “Right. Chimeras don’t go dormant mid-flight so they assumed it was a piloting fault.”
“Yes,” Brendan answered with a tired nod. “I pointed out experienced tamers couldn’t make such serious mistakes. We can’t even fall asleep when we’re inside a chimera. And we know he was fine before the incident.”
“And that worked? That convinced them?”
“Not really. Or it wouldn’t have, if I hadn’t shown them the records from the Typhon and the Scylla. All the damage we received in the battle with the other competitors is helping us now.”
I still couldn’t understand what had caused them to act in such a way. Even if Commander Trevor had said the use of violence was acceptable, our chimeras were much too valuable to blindly destroy in a tournament. “I hope those idiots are punished for what they’ve done.” Scylla might have survived, but she’d lost several limbs and that was unacceptable.
“I hope so too, but who knows? In the meantime, my father is chalking up the Charybdis situation to a magnetic anomaly, or perhaps something connected to the solar explosions. The Grand Judiciary might want to do more research, to keep things like this from ever happening again.”
I grimaced in distaste, knowing how much Scylla hated her ‘improvements’. It reminded her of the unwanted body modifications she’d received when she’d been still alive. But maybe this time, it was for the best. The Charybdis had gone dormant for a reason, and we needed to find out why.
Brendan pressed his hand to the glass, and his shoulders slumped as he watched August’s slack face. “You know, I feel like I should apologize. I dragged you all into my mess and now you’re suffering because of me.”
“This is hardly your fault, Brendan. I doubt your father could’ve affected Charybdis’s engines, even if he had tried.”
“Maybe, maybe not. But I don’t believe in coincidences and everything that’s been going on is a little too much for me to accept.”
I walked up to him and squeezed his shoulder. “Even if that’s true, we made our own choices. We wanted to support you. Besides, it’s not like our goals didn’t coincide.” If anything, he’d given us purpose at a time when all we’d been able to think about was vengeance. Without him, August and I might have already done something stupid that would’ve gotten us killed.
“I suppose,” Brendan offered. “In any case, I’ve made arrangements for us to return to Tartarus Base. I have my father’s permission to send extra shuttles after the Charybdis if Knox and Selene fail to find her. Hopefully, it won’t be necessary.”
“I don’t think it will be,” August suddenly said. “I’d hate to owe one of those stupid Harpy tamers a favor.”
The words came out of nowhere. Brendan and I turned toward the healing pod and met August’s eyes. He shot us a small, pained smile and tried to lift his hand. The medical bands kept him from moving and harming himself. “Oops. It seems I’m trapped.”
At that, I finally snapped out of my stupor. “A-August!” I stammered. “Thank Tartarus… How do you feel?”
It was a stupid question, since I could read the displays and see him with my own eyes. But I needed to say something, anything that would convince me this wasn’t a dream. “Are you okay?”
“I’ve been better, but at least I’m not dying.” He let out a low chuckle. “I had a dream about Selene, which is always a plus.”
“I can’t argue with that,” I answered, still dazed. “I hope it was a nice dream.”
“It was. We were on Mercury, and we were kissing. She was with Knox and they’d just found Charybdis. They’ll bring my chimera back, I just know it.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that was unlikely. August was still sick, and Charybdis’s loss had been almost as bad as the physical damage he’d received. If he wanted to think she’d be all right, I’d let him. Brendan seemed to agree, because he said, “If there’s anyone who can do it, it’s them.”
After that, medics and nurses streamed in, alerted to the change in August’s status. Several of them seemed befuddled, but in every other way, they acted professionally. We were ushered outside to wait and we obeyed, feeling a little more hopeful.
There were other people in the medical wing and some of them shot us ugly looks. We’d done a fair amount of damage in the tournament before the chimeras had started acting up. As far as I knew, nobody had died, but the wounded and their families didn’t like us much.
I didn’t care about their opinion. If they had a problem with the way the competition had gone, they could take it up with The Grand Judiciary. The whole thing had been their fault, after all. Besides, we’d been attacked too, with far more viciousness that we’d employed.
Left with nothing to do, Brendan pulled out his tablet and started scrolling through his work files. I leaned against him and let myself drift, memories and hopes mingling inside me, creating a labyrinth that rivaled the one we’d explored in the tournament.
I couldn’t see a clear way out, but I did know one thing. We couldn’t go through with Brendan’s original plan. It had made sense at the time, but at this point, it was obvious that Selene belonged with us. And I’d already lost enough, damn it. I wasn’t willing to lose more.
“That’s the spirit,” Scylla tol
d me. “It’ll be much easier for you to carry this burden if you’re together.”
“I just hope Selene will agree. We made a mess out of that one.”
“She will. She understands her priorities too. You’ll have your brood all set up soon, Pollux. I promise you that. And you know I always keep my promises. You’ll find that Selene and I are similar in that regard.”
She was right. A little while later, Selene and Knox returned, bringing news that they’d found Charybdis. “She’s out of commission, but we hope it’s a temporary state,” Knox said. “What about August? How is he doing?”
“He woke up again earlier. I think he’s on the mend.”
Selene shot me a wide, almost blinding smile. “Really? That’s great news.”
“Yeah!” Brendan said with a small chuckle. “He’s almost back to normal. He even said he had a dream about you kissing him on Mercury.”
All color drained out of Selene’s face. Knox’s breath caught. “Excuse me? He said what?”
He sounded upset, almost angry, and the sharp light in his eyes gave me a bad feeling. “That he had a dream about himself and Selene on Mercury. The two of them were apparently making out. You’d found Charybdis. He was very excited about the whole thing.”
Selene shared a look with Knox. They didn’t answer, but it didn’t take a genius to realize they were hiding something big.
I wanted to ask them about it, but I was far too aware of our location to do so. I’d already been rash earlier, when I’d displayed my additional skills in the med bay. It was time to take a more cautious approach.
“Come here. Sit with us. We can wait for the doctors to come out and we’ll talk about August’s weird dreams later.”
“That sounds great,” Selene replied.
We all sat down on the bench. Selene leaned against my shoulder and threaded our fingers together. Her hand was cold and at that moment, I wondered if Scylla would really be able to keep her promise.