Landlocked (Atlas Link Series Book 2)

by Jessica Gunn

  And with that, Trevor walked away, but not without a lingering sidelong glance at me. Was that regret I saw there? Worry replaced it so quick I wasn’t able to decide.

  I watched him walk until he met up with a group of people in the distance—Dr. Hill, Sophia, and Major Pike. I clamped down on my thoughts. Now wouldn’t be a good time to see them. Not with Josh and the others in tow. Not after my argument with Trevor.

  “Minus you almost clobbering that kid after the show, that was pretty fun!” Mara said, laughing. The guys and I piled into a van that Mara drove back to our hotel.

  No taxi-Chelsea today. There was an after-party scheduled in the band’s hotel suite in a few hours, so we had to play it normal. Which, as one can imagine, drove me insane. So many times I wished I didn’t even have powers and now the one time I really wanted to use them, I couldn’t. All I wanted was to just up and teleport, and only come back when I’d calmed down.

  The air inside the car was humid and stale, making breathing almost impossible when coupled with my leftover anger. There was more to what had happened than I thought, that much was obvious. Trevor’s pale face might have been a clue. I just wasn’t sure if I really wanted to know what Trevor had left out. Who else had he slept with? How many were close friends? Or was it something with TAO and SeaSat5? If it was important, the others would have approached me, too, but they hadn’t.

  Josh poked my ribs. When I didn’t react, he leaned in and brushed his lips against my exposed neck. A chill erupted from the spot, somersaulting my stomach. I moaned and turned into him.

  Before I could kiss him, he pulled back. “What’s got you so zoned only that can bring you out?”

  “Seriously gross,” Mara said from the front seat. “That’s my cousin.”

  Hesitation gripped my tongue as I ignored Mara’s comment. “I told you my ex caused drama back home. I’m still mad about it.”

  “And I told you I’d kick his ass if you wanted me to,” Josh said. “He clearly hasn’t gotten the message about you two not being together anymore.”

  Except I had sought him out.

  I shrugged. “I think I handed enough of it to him today for now.”

  Mara peered at me in the rearview mirror. “No guy should break your heart, that’s for sure. That song cut me and I didn’t date you!” She reached behind her and clapped Josh’s knee. “Better watch out, man.”

  Josh snaked an arm around my shoulders and pulled me in for a much-needed embrace. “I don’t plan on ever breaking her heart. Seems like a risky business endeavor.”

  Everyone else laughed it off, but his words struck me hard. I don’t plan on ever breaking her heart.

  Don’t plan.

  Ever.

  I looked up at him. His attention was on the road in front of us, on Mara as she drove. His thumb traced lazy circles in my palm. I tried to force how good it felt, how reassuring, out of my mind. We’d been dating for less than a month, what did he know? Anything could happen. How could he know he’d never want to break my heart, that he’d never want to end it, whatever this was? And why was I more confused by his intensity than necessarily intimidated by it?

  The answer came as a cozy warmth that started in my heart, expanding slowly to every limb, every nerve ending in my body. A chill ran the length of me, from my toes, up through my abdomen and chest, to the tips of my nose and fingers.

  Josh was the kind of man I could love. The kind I could spend a lot of time with. Years. Decades. The kind of man I could count on to be there, strong and loyal. I could live a simple life, black and white. Him doing what he did, me teaching archaeology and playing shows. It seemed simple. Easy. A non-fantasy compared to the life I was living now, where ancient civilizations had placed me as a pawn in the middle of their war for control over time-travel. And what would he do if I told him my secret? When I told him. I knew I had to, but this hardly seemed the right time.

  I’d always thought this feeling was a joke, the kind of thing you only experienced in movies or reading a book. I thought I knew what love was before. But this was more. It was quiet and loud at the same time, like that sense of peace after knowing you made the right decision regarding an impossible problem. It was more than lust or infatuation. It was wholeness. It was warmth.

  I shook my head the tiniest bit. I might have been wrong, but for now I’d accept this feeling as being right.

  Someone lightly rapped their knuckles on the side of my head. I snapped out of my reverie to find Josh grinning down at me with twinkling brown eyes. “You okay in there, space cadet?”

  I bit my lip to keep my thoughts from spilling out. Now wasn’t the time to explore those feelings. Instead, I lifted my lips to his ear and whispered, “I don’t want to break your heart, either.”

  He kissed me once on my forehead, then lightly on my lips. “Good.”

  he only thing worse than waking up with a headache brought on by a constant barrage of images showing you every connection the Waterstar map can make, was waking up to my alarm clock blaring a song on the radio by my ex-girlfriend.

  But you lied again. Lied again.

  Lied again.

  LI-ED. A-GAIN.

  I bolted upright, ears straining to confirm that the song being broadcast over the radio was indeed what it sounded like. Sure enough, Chelsea’s voice and Kris’s guitar riffs ripped me into full consciousness.

  I hated Mondays.

  What were Phoenix and Lobster doing with a song on the radio? How did they get a song on the radio?

  I listened, wanting to rip my ears off, as the song meant to cut me down to size played out. Two minutes later, the radio hosts explained the anomaly.

  “These guys came literally out of nowhere,” a woman with a raspy, low voice said. “Came out of nowhere” pretty much defined my life where Chelsea was concerned. “They played at the Juxe show in Jersey this past weekend.”

  A second voice chimed in. “For a name as ridiculous as Phoenix and Lobster, they sure brought the fire. They’re from Massachusetts, but their Jersey following has grown by leaps and bounds. The entire eastern seaboard is lit up with this song—which the band recorded live at Juxe.”

  “It’s pretty rough,” the woman agreed. “Hopefully this group can get a real track together quick. Something tells me a record deal is in their future. I wish them luck at this weekend’s Juxe in Philly.”

  The show then cut to another song, some Top 40 hit. I sat there dumfounded. It was only a matter of time before Chelsea’s determination drove Phoenix and Lobster to stardom, but literally overnight? Did she even know? Of course she probably knew. I ran a hand through my bed-head hair. With them getting so big, would TAO lose Chelsea forever?

  Suddenly my room filled with a bright glow of something burning, unknown source. I brought my arm up to shield my eyes, my back pressing against the wall.

  “What the hell?”

  The glowing died down in seconds. I dropped my arm, ready to run in case anything was on fire. Nothing was. But someone else had joined me in my room.

  “Hello, Trevor.”

  My mother stood across the room from me, an almost unrecognizable face—if being unable to recognize your own mother was possible. Her blonde hair mirrored mine, same with her eyes. But the way she carried herself was the farthest thing from me. She wore a skirt-suit like she was in the middle of attending a large business meeting when she decided to pay me a visit. It was hard to imagine this CEO-wannabe ever being a caring mother, much less my own. I sure as hell didn’t remember it.

  “What are you doing here?” I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at her.

  She stepped toward me. “Now come on. We haven’t seen each other in years. Come hug your mother.”

  “No.” I hopped off my bed, wary of any other powers she might exhibit. Valerie could teleport and command fire. Now that I knew, I feared my mother more. Why would she risk coming here, anyway? “When did you learn how to teleport?”

  “I’ve always been able to
.”

  Clearly. “Then why not tell me?”

  She sighed and took a seat in my computer chair, crossing one leg over the other. She wore a pantsuit and a severe expression. “You didn’t exhibit any powers.” She frowned. “I saw no reason to tell you.”

  Valerie had told me anyway. But that meant it was possible I could have had powers. And if Chelsea hadn’t developed hers until she turned twenty-one…

  “Don’t think too hard about that, Trevor,” my mother said. “Your super soldier girlfriend is Atlantean. Their genetically engineered abilities take longer to show up than our natural ones. If you were meant to have abilities, they would have shown up by now.”

  I couldn’t stop the inferiority complex from building within me. Again I was in no position to compete with Chelsea as a soldier, or Valerie, either. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

  Also, how had she heard my thoughts? I didn’t get a chance to ask.

  My mother’s smile lessened. “Good. The enemy’s plaything wasn’t good enough for you, anyway.”

  I clenched my fists. I didn’t care what she thought. “What are you doing here?”

  “We need to discuss a few things, things I fear Valerie has already told you,” she said.

  How’d she know about Valerie? Trying to keep track of who knew what was becoming a chore, one better left to someone on the outside of all this. Someone objective and not stuck in the middle of the loony bin. “Yeah, we’ve been busy.”

  She nodded with heavy disapproval. “Allying yourself with the enemy, yes. I know.”

  This was not the mother I grew up with. Her mannerisms and posture were calm and relaxed, but every word she said was strictly business. I didn’t know what to think about her anymore, other than this very clearly was not my mother. Aside from her disapproval of Chelsea, which didn’t matter anyway, there was no sign at all that we were family.

  “I guess that depends on your perspective of who the enemy is, now doesn’t it?” I asked.

  Her lips curled in disgust so fast I wasn’t sure it actually happened until she said, “You don’t know what’s going on. You don’t have the full score.”

  “And whose fault is that?” I spit at her as my whole body tensed. “You know what I do know? I know your people conducted a hostile takeover of a Naval research station that was, by all rights, a neutral piece in your stupid war against Atlantis. I know Chelsea almost died in that hijacking. One of my best friends did die. All by your order.” I stepped toward her. “So regardless of whether TAO supports Atlantis or whether I work for them or not, I know that by exploring the Link Pieces, I’m helping find a way to get SeaSat5 back after you stole them.”

  “I had no hand in—”

  “Fine, your people. You Lemurians. Thompson. Whatever.”

  “Trevor,” she said, her eyes leveling me with a single gaze. “Lemuria does not have SeaSatellite5.”

  A pregnant silence erupted between us, deafening me.

  “Bullshit,” I called.

  She stood from the chair. “Like I said, you don’t yet know the full score of this war.”

  “SeaSat5 was taken within weeks after your plan to hijack it failed,” I argued. Why was she so adamant Lemuria didn’t take the station if that was clearly the case? Even Dave, the other Lemurian spy placed on SeaSat5 by my mother—in addition to Valerie—was in on it. “Don’t stand there and try to convince me otherwise.”

  She stared me down, storm clouds hovering in her eyes. “Lemuria does not have the station. I would know. But we are interested in what happened given the artifacts on board.”

  First Valerie spouted off weird things, and now my mother did too. Both said I didn’t know what all was going on at all, and yet the score seemed twisted enough that maybe knowing didn’t matter at all.

  “Of course,” I said, sarcasm lacing the words. The artifacts were half of the reason Thompson, my mother’s once-right-hand-man, had hijacked the station in the first place. The other half was Chelsea. “If Lemuria didn’t take SeaSat5, then who did?”

  Her eyebrow rose in arrogance as if to call me stupid. “You already have your answer.”

  My eyes narrowed. “Get out of here. If all you’re going to do is patronize me, leave.”

  She had to leave. If anyone saw her here, they’d assume I was working with her and the Lemurians. Talking to Valerie was one thing, but talking with my mom, a proud Lemurian, in private wouldn’t look good at all.

  “Or what?” she asked. “You’ll capture me? Hold me prisoner?” She waved off the idea. “I’d like to see them try.”

  “Just leave me alone.”

  She lifted her chin. “You’re as stubborn as your father, you know.”

  No. I wouldn’t know. I haven’t seen my father since he signed my college admissions papers years ago.

  She turned, presumably teleport out again, but she stopped mid-turn to look at me. “You’re looking at the wrong side of this war, Trevor. TAO doesn’t have all the answers. TAO doesn’t have even half the puzzle pieces.”

  In a shower of flames, she was gone.

  “Then she said we don’t have all the puzzle pieces,” I explained. “That we’re looking on the wrong side of the war.” I’d decided to say something, woken everyone up to do so. To wait would mean looking guilty, and I couldn’t afford that bull right now.

  General Holt, Major Pike, Dr. Hill, and Sophia looked on at me like they either hadn’t taken in what I said or were in too much shock to respond. I was still the latter. My mother had given us the answer without giving us the answer. And it was something Valerie probably knew, but was too terrified to say. That’s why she’d wanted to meet in the alley. That’s why she’d kept looking over her shoulder, scared somebody or something was watching her. Following her.

  After a few moments, Major Pike leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. “You realize…” he said slowly. “You realize that’s exactly what Germay told us, right?”

  My breath hitched as I remembered the conversation.

  We are exploring the Links in search of our missing people, Sophia had said. The Lemurians took them and have hidden them somewhere in time.

  You look on the wrong side of the war, soldier, Germay had replied. Perhaps you should ask this one.

  Then Germay had looked at me like I’d had all the answers. The answer. The answer that said the Lemurians didn’t have SeaSatellite5.

  “Puzzle pieces,” Dr. Hill repeated. He was staring at the recently polished wooden table. Our reflections refracted off its surface. “Interesting choice of words on her part.”

  “She was talking about Link Pieces,” I said. “We don’t have the correct one to take us to SeaSatellite5—it’s a fact.”

  Dr. Hill’s eyes scrunched up in thought, causing his brow to bend as if he were angry. Moments passed before he shook his head ever so slightly. “I don’t know. From the way you tell it, her word choice seemed pretty intentional.” Dr. Hill held everyone’s attention. He looked up, unfazed by it. “She said you already have your answer, didn’t she? She specifically said puzzle pieces should tell you what that answer is.”

  Was he waiting for me to put it all together? I looked off to the side and rolled my head across my shoulders. Puzzle pieces. Answers. Germay’s words.

  Then it clicked. My eyes shot to his. “You think Germay’s people have SeaSat5?”

  “Why not?” he asked. “They have the technology needed to take the station. It couldn’t have been as simple as using Link Pieces—the station is simply too big. And she clearly knew where SeaSatellite5 was. How did we not see this before?”

  I rubbed my eyes, massaging away stress and frustration. “That information doesn’t help us any. We don’t have any other Link Pieces we can use to go back to her time, not in any close proximity to the first travel date, and I don’t think we want to play that game.”

  “To my knowledge, we don’t have any that will get us to Germay’s time at all,” Sophia chimed in. “Even if
they have SeaSatellite5, which I doubt because they appeared to be Atlantean—or at least allied with Atlantis, given the connection Chelsea and I felt with them—going after them without a plan may not be wise.”

  “So we don’t go after them,” Pike said.

  I swung my gaze toward him. “They might have SeaSatellite5.”

  Pike met my gaze and amended his remark. “We don’t go after them yet. We need a way to get there first. Then we need a plan of attack and a plan for returning. If they do have the station, the rescue mission could take months to formulate for any chance of success, especially if we don’t know how they took the entire station in the first place. That statue from a few weeks back is the biggest thing we’ve ever used as a Link Piece.”

  I bit back every word on my lips. If we knew where SeaSat5 was, waiting another five months would not be an option. Not for me, and definitely not for Chelsea. If she found out we knew and hadn’t acted on that intel, all bets were off. All of them. I pushed my chair back and stood from the table.

  “Where are you going?” General Holt asked.

  “With your permission, sir, I am going to go examine what we know of the Waterstar map. There has to be a clue somewhere.”

  Even as I said it, the map appeared in my mind’s eye. It encased my field of vision like a transparent overlay. The map covered everything, but didn’t block out what I saw before with normal human eyes. Instead, one or two objects in the room appeared to have lines jutting out of them, with dates and times scribbled on the lines in handwriting.

  I shook my head to clear the mirage. Whatever that damn Link Piece did to my brain, it wasn’t painful anymore.

  I considered telling Pike what was happening, but I knew he wouldn’t understand. Sophia might, because how I saw the map right now was how Chelsea had always described her experience. But how would I even begin to describe why I saw the Waterstar map like an Atlantean super soldier? I couldn’t. Not until I knew more. And right now, it looked like learning more wasn’t going to happen.