Center of the Universe (Twelfth Keeper)

by Malory, Belle

  Of course, then she would’ve never met Phoenix. And the thought of not knowing Phoenix was…tragic. Because as happy as she might’ve been with Hunter, she knew it couldn’t compare. Phoenix filled her heart in ways she never thought were possible, made her feel things she wasn’t even sure other people felt. Be it a blessing or a curse, it was safe to say he’d ruined her for all other guys for as long as she lived.

  But she would rather lie naked in a bed of broken glass than tell Hunter about him.

  “What are you doing tomorrow?” He wiped the sweat from his forehead and gave her that hopeful look that worsened the guilt.

  She couldn’t keep doing this. He was her best friend, and if this really turned out to be a goodbye and she didn’t get a chance to spend time with him before the Sae-yers arrived, she would never forgive herself.

  “I’m thinking about wandering around the historic district, maybe buying some Floridian souvenirs for the other keepers.” She swallowed and pushed her next words out. “Wanna come with me?”

  His brown eyes lightened. “I’d love to.” He took a few steps closer, swinging an arm around her side and resting it against the railing she leaned on.

  Kennedy’s gaze dropped to his arm, and then drew back up to his face. He was getting mighty close for comfort.

  Hunter stood over her and slowly bent down until he was mere inches from her face. His voice turned raspy as he said, “Looking forward to it.”

  Oh boy.

  Kennedy took a shaky step backwards. What had she just gotten herself into?

  Hunter grinned, probably thinking it was only shyness that steered her away from him. She wished that were the case.

  And now she had to spend all day with him tomorrow. God help her, but fitting in quality time seemed hopeless, especially if she had to dodge his advances the whole time.

  Before he could make another move like that one, Kennedy escaped into her house, bolting the door behind her.

  She loved Hunter. He was the best friend a girl could ask for. That being said, neighbors were so overrated.

  Two

  Phoenix pressed a button on his brace, hoping the message he sent would make Kennedy smile. It was pathetic that he couldn’t go a whole day without contacting her, or that he didn’t have the focus he prided himself with anymore.

  Stop thinking about the damned girl and get back to work, he ordered himself. Easier said than done when her face was entangled with his every waking thought. His focus no longer mattered as much as it used to, and he wasn’t sure what that said about him.

  Rubbing his hands together, he blew into them, trying to get back to the task at hand. It would be easier to think straight if it wasn’t so bloody cold. He would never understand why people chose to live in this glacial country. It didn’t matter that Oslo’s climate was nearly the same as St. Petersburg, or that the Jorgensen family name had bred a long line of robust Norwegians with ice practically coursing through their veins. It was freezing, dammit.

  “You sure this is a good idea?” Fang asked. Snowflakes shimmered atop her black hair, and she kept brushing them off her face and out of her eyelashes as if they were annoying her on purpose.

  “Yes,” he answered. “We’ve been on this stakeout for hours. We need answers.”

  They stood beneath a leafless tree a good quarter mile away from a lone two-story wooden house, which looked more like an alpine vacation chalet going unused for the winter.

  No cars had driven in or out of its garage. No one had come or gone at all for that matter. Once the sun went down and darkness set in, no lights shone from any of the windows. Phoenix didn’t feel like waiting anymore. Going inside was the only way they would find anything.

  “I don’t know, Nix.” Fang shook her head, still looking at the house. “I’m not sure Mason would approve.”

  It wasn’t in her to hesitate. This was the first thing they’d been entrusted with outside of Olympus, and Fang didn’t want to screw it up. He didn’t either, but the difference between them was he saw going back empty-handed as the real failure. If there was a reason the unknown signal was being traced back to this place, he was determined to find out what it was.

  “We have a warrant,” he said. “It’s not like we don’t have permission.”

  “But if something is going on, we risk that whoever lives there will bolt. Or worse, they’ll put a gun to your head before you figure out what’s going on.”

  “Fang, everything will be fine,” he tried to assure her. “And we’ve been plenty patient. No one has been inside the house all day. For all we know, they’ve already taken off. Just stay here and keep post while Nika and I look around. If someone comes, dial my brace, and we’ll get out of there straight away.”

  Fang gave one last look around, then straightened, and gave him a quick nod. She wasn’t comfortable with him breaking in, but thankfully trusted him enough to go along with it.

  “Fine. But you damn well better be careful.”

  “Absolutely.” He turned to Nika, who hadn’t spoken more than a few words all day. Her presence was easy to forget. “You ready?”

  He wished he could leave her out here with Fang, but that would be a stupid move. His Russian was pretty much crap, and he needed her for translation. Just in case.

  Nika’s answer was to tread through the snow towards the house. He followed behind, keeping his eye out for oncoming vehicles. One long road led to the hilly area they were perched on, but the city was only about ten minutes away. If someone did live here, it was possible they were working late or running errands.

  Nika approached the front entryway, and then stepped aside. Phoenix tested the door first. It didn’t budge. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter. The flame flickered in the snowy air. A current of energy shot through his hands as he cupped them around the lock. Twisting the fire with his mind, he melted the lock. Once he heard a click, he shoved the door.

  Nika lifted a brow, impressed. “Pretty cool trick.”

  “Thanks,” he said, surprised to hear her speak at all. “I’ll go in first. Stay behind me—and please don’t leave my sight.”

  He felt bad for treating her like a child, and by the look on her face, she didn’t appreciate it either, but spelling things out was necessary when it came to Nika. She was way too unpredictable.

  They stepped into the foyer and were met with a degree of warmth, thank the bloody stars. Phoenix used the flashlight on his brace to scan the area while Nika quietly closed the door behind them.

  It was your basic living room set up, a few sofas and chairs surrounding the television mounted on the farthest wall. He traveled through the space, making sure to check every entryway and listening for suspicious sounds. Silence permeated the air, except for the muted whirring of the outside winds.

  One thing stood out. The atmosphere here seemed impersonal. There were no messes, no photographs on the walls, no evidence to attest that this was someone’s home. It almost looked abandoned.

  He quickly scanned the kitchen and dining room before telling Nika he was headed upstairs. She stayed close like he’d asked her too, always an arm’s length away.

  The first few rooms were empty, just walls, windows, and empty space. A bedroom was at the end of the hall with a dresser in it. He checked the dresser and was surprised to find men’s clothes. Someone had been here…but no clues to show how long ago.

  Disappointment met him at every corner. The whole place was a shell, devoid of anything that might tell them something. Everywhere he looked there was just more nothing.

  Phoenix was beginning to think this entire assignment was a bust. Then he opened the door to the last room. It was an office—several computers set up along an L-shaped desk in the corner. “Bingo,” he whispered.

  A massive machine that looked like some type of generator sat next to the window. Cords connected the machine to an outside device. Phoenix pushed the window up, and craned his neck around to see what it was.

  A s
atellite.

  So that explained where the mysterious signal was being transferred. Now to figure out why.

  He turned around at the sound of papers being shuffled and saw Nika rifling through a desk drawer. One of the papers caught her attention, and she picked it up, scanning over it.

  “What is that?” Phoenix asked.

  “A list of names,” she said, slowly lowering into the nearest chair and mumbling something incoherent. Her eyes glazed into pools of silver mist as she continued reading.

  “Is everything okay?”

  The piece of paper trembled in her hands. “I know this person,” she said, her voice shaky.

  “What pers—”

  Phoenix’s brace beeped, and Fang yelled, “Get the hell out of there, Nix! Someone’s running from the house!”

  He rushed to the window, and sure enough, a man clad in dark clothes headed full speed towards the woods on the side of the house.

  “I’m going after him,” Fang said, and by the bounce of her voice, she had already started running.

  He gripped his brace tightly. “Fang, don’t be that stupid. Wait for us—do you understand me?”

  “Lay off, Nix. I can handle one measly guy.”

  Phoenix silently cursed. He was going to strangle Fang when he got a hold of her—if he got a hold of her. “We have to go,” he told Nika.

  “No.” She looked around the office, her gaze drifting over each of the computers. “There’s too much information here. Gathering it is more important than catching whoever’s out there. We risk losing our answers if we leave.”

  For all her craziness, Phoenix knew she was right. Great timing for her to make a shit-ton of sense when his first impulse leaned towards the irrational side. But Fang was his friend—one of his best friends.

  “Go if you want,” Nika said. “I can stay and download everything I find to my brace.”

  It wasn’t a bad idea. “You sure?”

  “Yes.”

  Phoenix nodded and bolted out the door. He would have to trust her on this. There were no other options.

  He was already halfway down the stairs when he came to a stop. The energy in the house had shifted, grown tighter. The air expanded and collapsed together. He could feel it in the same way he felt the energy he tapped into when he moved fire. It was one and the same.

  Something was wrong.

  Phoenix ran back upstairs. “We have to get out of here,” he said to Nika, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her towards the door.

  “What? No—we’ll lose everything!” She shoved and pushed against him, trying to turn back.

  “Nika, the place is about to blow.” He gripped her shoulders, shaking her. “If we don’t leave now, we will die.”

  Nika’s mouth fell open and the color drained from her face. She stared at him, looking frozen. There wasn’t any time to snap her out of it. Phoenix pulled her, forcing her down the stairs.

  The sound of a distant ticking grew louder and louder in his ears. Time was running out.

  Tick…tick…TICK…

  He darted through the living room, threw open the front door, and pushed Nika out. “Run!”

  Nika stumbled on the thick blanket of snow. He helped her up, keeping a firm hold of her hand, and tugged her towards the woods as fast as he could manage.

  The explosion split the air behind them, propelling them upwards. Phoenix covered his face as he dropped. But the hard landing he expected never came. A gust of wind drew from below, softening the fall. They hovered over the ground for a second before the air gave way, then gently fell across the snow.

  Nika’s work, and he would’ve told her that was a pretty cool trick, but he couldn’t hear anything beyond the exploding house and the ringing in his ears.

  Dark clouds of smoke billowed behind them. Though he couldn’t hear her, he saw Nika convulse into a coughing spasm. He reached for her, picked her up, and slapped her back at the same time.

  Breathe, he thought. Control the air. You can do it better than anyone.

  She looked up at him, taking deep swallows of the frosty air. It looked like she was getting a handle on it.

  Phoenix steered her towards the woods, wanting to get away from the smoke. He took a brief moment to look at the house and found himself strangely wishing he had time to go back. Manipulating a fire of that magnitude would’ve been amazing. He always wondered if he could.

  Nika also stole a glance back at the burning house, coughing. “The evidence is gone.”

  Phoenix’s eyes fell on her hand, noticing the crumpled paper. He took it from her, opening and smoothing it out.

  He held it up, pointing to the list of names. “We still have this,” he said. And more importantly, there was the guy that took off.

  Time to kick some Russian ass.

  Three

  Three Days Earlier

  The number on the door matched the one Kennedy had been given. According to her brace, she was in the right place. She hesitated for a moment, thinking it was unusually quiet. This was Section 2, an expanse of common areas for Olympian citizens, where any number of places could be found from museums to movie theaters. But there weren’t any people in sight. No people, no chatter, no noises at all.

  When Phoenix originally told her to meet him here, she assumed it would be at the Atrium since that was a spot he loved. Artificial sunlight streamed in from the ceiling, and it was very close to the real thing. They’d spent countless Sunday afternoons there, walking around, talking and, well…becoming friends.

  But whatever this place was, it was in the back of Section 2 and nowhere near the Atrium. She stepped in front of the door, but it didn’t open automatically. She tried the handle.

  It was dark inside. She blinked, adjusting her vision. Starlight shone through the outer walls made entirely of glass from the floor all the way up to—no way. Even the ceiling was glass!

  Kennedy took a few more steps, feeling like she was floating in the midst of space. If it weren’t for the telescopes lining the walls, she wouldn’t know where the room ended and outer space began.

  “There she is.”

  She spun around, finding Phoenix standing there behind her. He wore civilian clothes that were dressier than normal, loose jeans, and a black button-up. His messy blonde hair was slicked back tonight, allowing every strong line of his face to show. Traces of a smile curved his lips, and she had never seen him look so handsome. She felt briefly grateful for having dug out her little black dress.

  Phoenix leaned in to lightly kiss her on the cheek. She smelled hints of his cologne mixed with that warm, divine scent that only belonged to him. “Thanks for meeting me here,” he said. Little tingles warmed the spot where he had kissed her, and Kennedy began to feel lighter. Like she really was floating in space. And the smile on his face, and those dimples, just…wow.

  Oh man, she needed to sit down—and quickly. Except there were no chairs anywhere in sight.

  Phoenix tilted his head to the side. “This way.”

  Kennedy looked ahead to see a blanket spread across the floor. Dim candles lit up the area surrounding the blanket, giving it a soft, romantic glow. A picnic in space.

  She smiled. He was trying to make their last night together a special one, which was so incredibly sweet.

  Seriously she needed to get it together, especially since she only just arrived. She wasn’t sure how she would last the whole night without melting into a puddle at his feet.

  She sat down on the blanket, trying to think of something to say. Words were impossibly hard to form. “This place is beautiful,” she finally managed. “And a little intimidating.”

  Phoenix slid a box of pizza between them and pried it open. “Intimidating?” he asked. “Why do you say that?”

  Seeing the familiar logo of his favorite pizzeria almost made her laugh. Neither of them were any good at cooking. Kennedy usually ordered in or asked Matilda to make something. Phoenix had gotten good at sweet-talking her robot into cooking for h
im whenever he visited. Matilda’s culinary talents were endless, and he served as the perfect person she could show off for.

  “It feels so isolated in here,” she said, gazing overhead. “Like we’re the only ones who exist in the universe.”

  He pulled out a bottle of wine and two glasses from his picnic basket, surprising her. The legal drinking age on Olympus was eighteen, younger than the twenty-one the US dictated, but she had only just turned seventeen. Most people here didn’t raise a brow if teenagers drank wine with their dinner, but Phoenix wasn’t the rule-breaking type. He usually did things by the book.

  “It doesn’t feel so remote during the day. Tourists fill up the floor.” Phoenix’s contemplative eyes drifted upwards. “But I like it this way. It takes away some of the weight. Makes me feel small again.”

  Keeper life was still new to her, but the responsibility that came with it already settled onto her shoulders. And Phoenix had been carrying that weight his whole life.

  “When they first constructed this place, the floor was made of glass too.” His tone changed to that of an informative tour guide. “From what I heard, they carpeted the floor because it freaked people out to the point of crawling and hyperventilation.”

  Picturing the floor without the carpet, seemingly groundless, made her own heart rate pick up. “I can imagine.” A moment passed, and she thought to ask, “So if this place is so popular, how did you get access to it this late at night?”

  “I have my connections,” he said, grinning, and handed her a glass.

  It was so like him to keep her guessing.

  “Pizza and wine,” she said thoughtfully. “There is a lot to be said about that combination.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  She nodded, her head held expertly high. “Simple meets elegant.”

  “Or cheesy meets romantic,” he said, making her laugh.

  “Yeah. That, too.”

  He leaned over the pizza box, his lips about an inch from hers. “Did I tell you how much I like this dress?”