AQUA (The Elements Series Book 1)

by Korn, Tracy

"Jazwyn."

  "OK, OK. You know about Vox pushing me, so there's that, but now I can hear Liddick in my head, and he can hear me—we can talk that way, but I don't know how to control it or anything else about it. He seems to, though."

  "What?" he says, shaking his head as if the whole thing is a spiderweb he's just walked into, face first.

  "I know. It just started today, just last period. Our teacher said something about noticing things like this since we're surrounded by people with like energies now or something. What's happening to us here?"

  "I don't know. My teacher told us we'd be noticing changes, though, too. How does Wright know how to control it if it just started today?"

  "He seemed just as surprised as I did when it happened, but then he figured it out somehow I guess," I answer.

  "He's coming in right now with Vox. Can you hear her in your head too?"

  "No, not like him. With her it's just more of a feeling of compulsion to do something or say something. It feels like it's my own instinct until it's too late, but I've noticed this little prickle in the back of my head when she tries it, so I'm getting better at stopping myself before I say something stupid."

  "Here they come," he says, raising his chin to the door. I look to see Vox's arm is still linked with Liddick's as he scans the room, then I turn back around.

  Where are you? I hear Liddick's voice in my head and flinch.

  "What?" Arco says, suddenly looking at me hard. "What happened? Can you hear him?" he asks. I nod and close my eyes. Let's see if I can control this too.

  Down front by Arco. I think without turning around to face Liddick.

  All right, I see you. His voice answers in my head.

  This is a thing we can do now? Is it all of us in the diplomacy field? How do we control this? I ask him.

  I don't know, but it looks like we are controlling it.

  "What's happening?" Arco says. "Hey, they're coming down here."

  "I know. I told him where we were."

  "You told him in your head?" Arco asks, and I nod once more. He opens his mouth to say something, but then closes it again.

  "How'd you get here so fast, Hart?" Tieg says, coming down the row of seats behind us and surprising us both. Arco takes in a long, resigned breath and exhales all at once when he jumps over the back of the chair next to me and sits down. "Nice to see you again, Jazz." I turn away from Arco and smile at him, suddenly feeling awkward. "So they're going to teach us how to turn ourselves into atoms in here and not die—should be a good class." Tieg smiles, and I will myself not to stare at his teeth.

  "I thought we were in classes by career field," I say to both Tieg and Arco, realizing that we're intermixing. "Guess we'll find out what we have in common. Sarin is in here with us too, and Liddick, and Vox," I nod, turning around to see Liddick and Vox almost to us, Vox still on his arm.

  "Are they a thing now?" Tieg asks, his eyebrow cocked. "Didn't figure him to go for the…exotic type."

  "No, she's just trying to annoy me," I say, shaking my head as I watch them navigate the stairs.

  "Oh, so…you're with—?" Tieg looks at me tentatively, and I splinter.

  "No!" I say too loudly and too abruptly. He flinches, then chuckles. "Sorry, I just finished telling someone else the same thing about another person," I say, turning all the way around in my seat toward the front of the room and folding my arms over my chest, then dart a glance at Arco as he shifts in his seat and tilts his head toward me.

  I've literally been here four seconds. Whatever you're tweaked about, it wasn't me. I hear Liddick in my head, and can't help but laugh. Without turning around again, I can tell they've just sat down behind us. Arco and Tieg exchange glances, and Liddick suddenly claps them both on the shoulder.

  "Gentlemen! How was your first class today?"Arco shrugs his arm forward and out of Liddick's grip before turning his back and to face completely forward like me.

  "Decent. Fraya, Jax, Ellis, Pitt, and Dez were in there. Organic Systems and Theory," he says, then turns to me. "Basically, it's biology, but with a sick twist."

  "What do you mean a sick twist?" Vox says, overhearing. Arco turns around to face her, and I suddenly feel heat radiating over my face and throat as I wonder how she was able to push him into almost kissing her earlier. I thought she could only push receivers. Is Arco like me?

  "They had screen after screen of what this toxin out there does to the body. It was one giant campaign for anyone thinking about sneaking off campus—be prepared to be turned into a cauliflower by all the poisonous spores at this depth,"Arco says inside air quotes, then shudders in his seat.

  Everyone's faces contort at that image, and Vox blurts out exactly what we're all thinking, "Why would they put a school here?"

  "The school was here first," Tieg answers. "They put filters on the moon pools in each hub about 30 years ago because the spores started infecting people. The pictures were severe. It's impolite to describe it in front of ladies, though," he says, angling his head toward me and smiling. Arco closes his eyes, then subtly shakes his head, and I can feel his complete exhaustion with his roommate.

  "So we're sitting in the middle of some kind of poison pit?" Vox interjects from behind us again.

  "At least we're water tight in here, and there's no way the spores can get in the moon pool or the craft docks with the filtration," Arco says, his eyes still closed and his head now resting on the back of his chair. "There hasn't been a case in 30 years, anyway."

  "Why doesn't everyone know about this?" I ask. "It seems like something everyone should know."

  "I'm sure they'll brief everyone at some point," Tieg replies, again with that unnerving smile, but I'm saved when Liddick pulls everyone's attention to the woman walking down the aisle toward us with a low whistle.

  She doesn't look at us when she passes by, her straight black curtain of hair nearly skimming the floor behind her like a long veil, sweeping from side to side with each step. Her jumpsuit is like Ms. Reynolt's from the last class, except instead of blue, hers is a deep red. When she turns to face the class, her round, green eyes, which are offset by the color of her jumpsuit, snare us all.

  "Wow," I say under my breath.

  "Welcome, everyone. My name is Dame Mahgi, and this is Biotransfer and Culture," she says in a short, precise cadence, her voice almost echoing like the resonance after a bell. "In this class, you will learn safe passage through our connected world. It is a physically demanding process, so you will all be required to eat, sleep, and train differently than your peers who will not be in career fields that require extensive travel and interaction with other cultures." She extends the palm of her hand out, and flecks of light begin to appear a few feet from her. More and more appear until they start to take shape—the shape of a man. He doesn't move for several seconds after the particles of light stop, but then he blinks and smiles. His hair is brown, smoothed into one continuous wave over his head, and he's taller than almost anyone I've ever seen. His jumpsuit is white with a red sash over his shoulder. The class fractures into mumbles and gasps as Dice McClain's smile broadens just before he salutes the room.

  "Welcome to Gaia Sur, cadets!" he says in a booming voice, and at the sound of it, everyone explodes into applause and cheers. Dame Mahgi smiles softly and nods to the room after the cheers begin to die down.

  "Many of you recognize this man as Dice McClain, star of your favorite virtuo-cines. But did you know that he is also a Gaia Sur graduate?" Dame Mahgi asks, which causes the class to start mumbling all over again. "He comes to us from Skyboard North via Biotech transfer, also called port-call."

  Dice McClain holds up his hands and wiggles his fingers. "Safer than swimming," he says with a smile, and as I look more closely, I see that his teeth are exactly like Tieg's, and I can't believe my eyes. How have I never noticed that before?

  "How did he materialize? The port-cloud is topside?" someone asks.

  "Biotech Global and the Carbonetics Corporation are long-time patrons o
f Gaia Sur, and have graciously donated both the port-cloud and the atom synthetics that make incoming port-calls like this possible," Dame Mahgi explains without hesitation.

  "Jax is never going to believe this," I whisper into Arco's shoulder, and he nods.

  "Let me begin today by putting some of your potential fears to rest: port-call is completely safe," Dame Mahgi continues, "but it requires complete concentration and discipline. You have all demonstrated adequate base levels of these abilities, and when you have achieved optimal levels, you will be allowed to make assisted transfers to remote, trial assignments. For many of you, this will only take a few short months."

  "Did you see how he was frozen there for a second?" Arco asks, studying Dice McClain as he stands in place next to Dame Mahgi. I nod.

  "Does it hurt?" a boy from a few rows over calls out, and several people laugh. His face blanches as he rubs the back of his head, and I look at Vox, who's grinning. Anyone who had an advisory session in the Boundaries room knows the answer to his question, so I'm wondering what this poor kid did to inspire her revenge via stupid question hijack.

  "Yes," Dice McClain says with a smirk, which stows everyone's hilarity. "It hurts to stay landlocked once you realize you're capable of transferring. And all of you in this room are, or at least you will be when Dame Mahgi is done with you," he says, and turns to face our teacher. "Well, I'll leave you to getting them registered. Always a pleasure, professor," he reaches for her hand, then kisses it before straightening up and facing us all again in a salute that slowly fades into glittering flecks of light until every trace of him is gone.

  CHAPTER 28

  Debriefing

  "Busy morning for everyone I see?" Arco says, slipping into a seat next to Jax at the lunch table and stealing a grape from his tray, and I slide in next to him.

  "Look at this," Jax says, shoving a paper in my direction. "We get to work on that. That," he drills his finger into the paper. "The Leviathan, can you believe it? Look at those lines. See how the front just slides into the wing area? Seamless! Arco's training to pilot it. I'm training to run it."

  I look over at Arco, who shrugs, quirking his eyebrows and then smirking as he looks away.

  "You didn't tell me you might pilot that," I say, surprised. He looks back to me and raises an eyebrow.

  "Well, you didn't ask," he says, taking a bite of his sandwich and trying to chew as his smirk widens into a smile. He swallows, then points with his sandwich to Jax. "He's the real hero. I can't pilot anything if he doesn't make all the systems work in the belly."

  "It has a belly?" Vox stops chewing to ask, trying not to look horrified.

  "That's what we call the core—the engineering room," Jax says, "you know, where all the guts are? Guts are in your belly." Everyone just blinks at him as he raises his eyebrows at the table just before his mouth drops open. "Oh, come on, it's a perfect metaphor!" Chuckles begin to bubble around the table, but quickly die down as Fraya walks up looking scattered.

  "What happened to you?" Vox asks as everyone is still processing her ghostly appearance, and Jax gets to his feet to help her into the seat.

  "We practiced hemofusion today," she says, and swallows several gulps of the juice Jax offers her.

  "Do I even want to know what hemofusion is?" he asks, reaching for her hand. "You're freezing cold."

  "It's just extracting red blood cells by using ionic fusion instead of vacuum needles like we had at our inoculations. It was just a little hard to watch, that's all."

  "You pulled red blood cells out of someone's—what, through someone's skin? And they pulled them through yours?" Jax takes both her hands in his now and rubs back and forth to try and warm them.

  "Well, we put them all back. It was just strange," she says, now leaning more into Jax with a sheepish smile. "They said we'd get used to it."

  "What class is that?" Avis asks.

  "My second class this morning, Cellular Design and Infrastructure. Also known as Biodesign."

  "You need to eat something," Jax says, taking the uneaten half of his sandwich from his plate, then, thinking better of the strawberry jelly dripping off, reaches for the bowl of sliced peaches on his tray and gives it to her with his unused spoon. She takes a bite, and color slowly starts returning to her face.

  "I'll get you some water," Avis says, maneuvering out of his seat with a flip of his blue-tipped hair.

  "Why did they make you do that?" I ask.

  "To show us what can be done I suppose—what they can do. It doesn't hurt, but to see—well, it's not really a lunch topic," she says, stopping, but when everyone insists, she continues. "Well, to see the blood welling up through the skin in this little circle over your vein, then streamlining into the tube is disturbing. I mean, there is an instrument, but it's just the receptacle. The area is protected by an ion field, but you can't see that, so it just looks like you've sprung a leak that's being magnetically syphoned into a tube a few inches from your arm."

  "Avis is going to split when he hears this," Ellis says, his face contorted in an effort to imagine what Fraya is describing.

  "That's what I tried to think about when it was my turn. I could imagine him coming apart for it..the technology, you know? And like I said, it didn't hurt, but I guess I'd prefer to see the needle. There's something about knowing, does that make sense? Suddenly bleeding and not being able to see why, that's the worst part," she says, tucking her hair behind her ear, which looks darker in this muted light. "I just need to see it coming."

  Arco and I immediately exchange glances as Avis appears with the bottle of water.

  "What?" I ask before I know it. Fraya's color has returned now that she's finished eating the peaches that Jax gave her, but I've suddenly lost my appetite.

  "The needle—there wasn't one, so it just started bleeding. At least with a needle you can see what's coming and brace for it," she says, taking the bottle of water from Avis. "Thanks."

  Arco darts another glance in my direction, then changes the subject. "Are you still hungry?" he asks Fraya.

  "I'll go get the rest of your lunch," Jax stands.

  "Thanks, but you need my bracelet. I can go. I'm fine now."

  "Well, I'll go with you," he says. "Be right back," Jax nods to the table and walks Fraya to the serving station.

  Ellis begins chattering to Avis, whose eyes widen almost immediately. They remind me of monkeys hopping between tree branches when they get like this.

  "Mind if I join you?" Tieg says as he approaches our table, his eyes scanning quickly, then landing on me.

  "We would just love it, but those two seats are taken by Jax and Fraya, so I'm afraid you'll just have to sit by Jazz," Vox says, her eyes flickering at me as she pops a grape into her mouth and grins.

  "Perfect," he answers and slides in next to me. I try to move over to make a little more room for him, but bump into Arco.

  "Sorry," I say, raising my eyebrows at him. "Could you slide down a little, please?"

  He lowers his eyelids and pulls whatever he's going to say into the corner of his mouth, opting then not to say it at all as he slides over a few inches.

  "So what's your career field?" I ask.

  "Astronavigation," he answers, tossing a cube of cheese into his mouth.

  "Stars? Down here?" Vox asks, arching an eyebrow.

  "I know, it sounds counterintuitive, doesn't it?" he says, pushing his dark blond hair off his forehead, the increased surface area making his blue eyes stand out even more. "It's fascinating, and the Leviathan ship is fierce."

  "Isn't that the same ship Jax was just slobbering about?" Vox asks, then snags the paper he left behind. "Is it this?" she asks Tieg, holding up the paper.

  "That's the one," he answers after he swallows.

  "Wait, so Astronavigation…does that mean those are topside crafts too?" I ask.

  "Not exactly. They call the field Astronavigation because the Leviathan systems can tell where the stars are all around, even on the other side of the
world by sending signals through the seafloor," he nods to the table, acknowledging their skeptical looks. "I know—it sounds flayed, right?" he says, lacing with a laugh and popping another cube of cheese into his mouth.

  "And you simply must explain how it does that," Vox says, forcing her eyes wide and resting her chin in her hands, tapping her fingers on her cheekbones in mock anticipation. I glare at her as I fight the tickle in my stomach to laugh, then press my fingernail into the tingle at the back of my neck until it hurts.

  "Well, it just scans, then it reads the feedback and reports the findings to the console for the pilot's interpretation," he says, nodding and picking up another cube of cheese. Ellis's eyebrows draw together as he opens his mouth to say something, but Vox cuts him off.

  "Fascinating. And are there thingies that make it work? Arco, you're a pilot, tell us about how the thingies help you interpret the stars," she says removing one of her hands to pick up a cherry tomato and toss it into her mouth without looking down at the plate, then returns her hand and blinks purposefully a few times. The tickle comes back, and I push it down again and clench my jaw. Why does she try to embarrass everyone? We've only been here a few days—no one knows how anything works yet.

  "Vox, you know what—" I start, but Arco laughs and covers my hand with his.

  "It's OK," he says, and sets down his glass of water before replying just as Jax and Fraya return to the table with her tray. "The vessel has these internal sonic graphing machines that shoot a pulse through the source material—so in this case, the ocean floor—in two beams. One keeps going, and the other ricochets off what it runs into and fires back information that basically turns into a picture."

  "Like a capture," Ellis elaborates for the table.

  "A laser capture," Avis corrects, and Ellis rolls his eyes.

  "Right. Then it compiles that data and turns it into a 3-D image that the pilot can pull up on the screen. So, not only can you see where the stars are on the other side of the world, even through the seafloor, you get a picture of whatever is between you and those stars too," he says.