We Are Forever (Rishi's Wish Book 2)

by C. M. Martens

  When a wiry man Dee hadn’t noticed moved from his place in the shadows to pour Dee coffee, she gripped the arms of the chair to keep from jumping. Tapping him, she found nothing, empty space where she clearly saw a body.

  A chill of the uncanny rolled up her spine. She tried not to stare, but couldn’t pull her eyes from the thin man whose demeanor would be better served on some late-night horror movie. If his invisible aura weren’t enough, his muted features would have set her off. It was as if someone had turned down the saturation on his image, his skin and clothes moving through the light with a lack of color that caused Dee to strain her eyes as she forced a reason for this nullness to fit logic. Nothing from Amalthea’s field trip explained who, or what, he might be.

  “We asked extensively after your care from Amalthea’s household. It seems you have very specific, though common, tastes.”

  Forcing her attention from the man-who-was-there-but-not-there, Dee was too distracted to let the Rishi’s petty jibe pull a reaction from her. To focus her thoughts, Dee picked up the fancy china cup and let the warm aroma take her attention. She put her other hand around the cup and took a sip, using the movements to hide the trembling in her hands.

  Staring over steepled fingers, elbows on her desk, Porrima spoke again. “There are so many questions surrounding your existence. The one I’m most curious to have answered is how you went under the radar for so long. Someone was stupid enough to let you out of their sights, but you shouldn’t have remained hidden. How did you do it?”

  Dee wanted to laugh, biting back the response that was sure to make an even greater enemy out of the female. Instead, she sipped her coffee. When she finally spoke, she was proud her voice didn’t waver. “Your ideas on events have painted me much more cunning than I’ve ever been.”

  Porrima smiled, leaning back in her seat as if accepting a challenge. “Don’t play me, girl. Your tales of ignorance aren’t about to fool me.”

  This was going to get ugly fast if this Rishi thought she’d been lying all along about things she was only just starting to figure out. But Dee didn’t take the bait of her ego. Instead, she took another sip to hide her face and settle her thoughts.

  -Silence is golden. This bitch will twist anything you say.-

  Except, Dee had a feeling Porrima would take silence as a personal insult.

  “I ask again, how did you stay under the radar?”

  Dee placed the empty cup on its saucer next to her, movements precise to help reign in the boiling of her emotions. Especially here, she couldn’t let herself give in to saying or doing something spontaneous. She followed by placing her hands in her lap before lifting her head to the Rishi, hoping her expression was an impassive mask. “They thought I was dead.”

  Disappointed her candor brokered no change in Porrima’s expression, Dee stared, hoping for some glimpse into where the Rishi’s thoughts took her.

  “How did you accomplish this ruse?”

  Dee smiled, a cold expression that didn’t reach her eyes. “Apparently, I blew up a lab and burned a house to the ground.”

  Dee got an eyebrow raise out of this.

  “Apparently?”

  Dee shrugged, relaxing back in her seat through force of will. “I don’t remember any of it. Zosma had video footage of most of it. If you’d let me stay there, I could have gotten more answers.”

  Porrima ignored the dig with practiced efficiency. “He showed you this video?”

  Dee shrugged again as if to say, You know crazy ‘ole Zosma and his videos. She hoped it was disarming and flippant, rather than obnoxious and juvenile.

  “Then, the rumor that he is to blame for your creation is true.”

  Blame? Dee didn’t like what that word said about Porrima’s judgment of her existence. This question about Dee’s life was a major source of stress hanging over her. The possibility of a vote sending her to the executioner’s block had kept her off-balance. As barbaric and unfair as these facts were, she’d heard enough innuendo from Hamal, then Amalthea, to know it was a real concern. Deciding to go with Zosma and see the truth in his claims had given her a sense of safety, at least from this scenario. In the face of Porrima’s contempt, Dee realized how premature that was.

  She rushed to respond. “Yeah—Yes. Yes, it’s true. He showed me video footage of me in a lab.”

  “Describe what you saw.”

  Dee’s eyes darted to the right as she conjured the memory of the video in her head. “Well, the location seemed secure. There was only—”

  “Describe what was done to you.” Porrima’s voice was the model of lost patience.

  “Right.” Dee almost apologized but bit back the word. “I was unconscious. There was an IV with at least two bags of something dripping into it. I—”

  “Two bags? You’re sure?”

  Dee held her breath, glaring her displeasure at being interrupted. Instead of congratulating the rudeness by answering, she turned her head to speak to the no-man she hoped still stood in the room. “May I please have more coffee?”

  Porrima gave the barest of nods before the man came forward to pour. She could have just done it herself, but anything to stall this tale and aggravate the Rishi seemed like the right thing to do.

  -That’s right. Poke the bear.-

  “I have no idea. It wasn’t the focus of my attention, and I’m not a nurse or a doctor.”

  Porrima frowned, eyes roaming Dee’s face. Her fingers came back to steeple under her chin. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t notice. What good would that information do someone of your education level.”

  Dee held her breath, fighting her rise of anger, allowing the vision of her lunging over the desk to slam her coffee cup through the Rishi’s skull to calm her.

  Porrima held her eye, goading her with a look that asked: What could you possibly do about it?

  It took Dee a moment to trust the steadiness of her voice. “I saw them take bone marrow.”

  The words stimulated a twitch in her hip. She resisted the urge to rub at it.

  Dee answered the question before it was asked. “Ten vials. Seemed excessive. But, like you said, my ignorance of such procedures wouldn’t accurately judge such a thing.”

  She took another sip of coffee, using the moment to settle herself, though the urge to scream wasn’t pushed far beneath her facade of calm.

  “They injected me with something before, and after, the bone marrow thing. I couldn’t see what it was. The pre-marrow stuff was put through the IV, the post-marrow stuff injected directly into my arm.”

  “Was the injection intravenous, intermuscular, subc—”

  “Right in the vein.” Dee took another sip, watching Porrima’s face to see how she would deal with getting cut off. Both disappointed and relieved when there was no reaction, Dee continued. She told the story as she’d seen it, leaving out any mention of Steve and Ray, leaving out her crazed waking state. Really, she left most of it out.

  “So, Zosma or Regina never show up? You never see them on camera?”

  “No.” It was a point she’d thought of but never let seep into the part of her brain that might understand it as a problem.

  Porrima smirked, a look that expressed: I know something you don’t know.

  Dee wanted to slap her.

  “You’ve heard of Initiation?”

  Dee nodded, mind scrambling to get to where the Rishi was going before she got there.

  “What do you know of how it works?”

  Dee thought to what she knew: Just enough to equal nothing. “Just that it’s a thing only a few of you can do. Make a Soldier from a human.”

  The Rishi sighed with impatience.

  Dee put down her coffee, careful not to clink the glass on the saucer before sitting on her hands so she wouldn’t do anything homicidal that might be suicidal.

  The voice in her head didn’t help on that count.

  The contempt in Porrima’s voice was so thick Dee choked on it, seriously considering her inner-voice’s
yell to Kill! Kill! Kill!. “I’ll keep it simple. If Zosma was never there, there’s no way he could have manipulated you. That’s not how it works.”

  Dee stared at Porrima, the Rishi’s carefully styled hair showing not a lock out of place, her expensive suit perfectly tailored, showing not a wrinkle, and that smug expression that told of a lifetime of seldom being wrong. But there was a first time for everything.

  Dee refrained from stating, Duh. “I wasn’t Initiated. That’s the point I think you’ve missed in all of this. I’m something else.”

  Dee’s tone moved from contempt to curiosity. Porrima knew this. Initiation wasn’t forbidden, but whatever happened to her was. So, why were they talking about Initiation?

  Porrima’s face remained smug.

  Dee picked her coffee back up, disappointed it was now cold, but drinking it anyway, eyes maintaining their lock on Porrima’s over the lip of the cup.

  “You can go.” The dismissal was so abrupt Dee started, unable to hide the reaction.

  When she didn’t get right up, Porrima’s eyes flashed to the wiry man. “Get her out of my face.”

  The man was behind Dee’s seat, hands gripping the sides of the tall back, so it thrummed with his energy no longer hidden. Shaking off the distraction of the no-man, Dee rose purposefully slow. Purposeful, both to annoy the Rishi, and to ensure she didn’t betray her rage. She strolled between the desk and her chair, eyes moving past the no-man who waited to open the narrow door.

  The open door revealed Boots standing in that static parade rest all the Soldiers playing guard were so good at. His presence filled the narrow hall, so she was forced to step to the side to fit in the corridor without bumping into him. Boots’ eyes moved to Dee’s face, flickered to the no-man behind her, then back to the point on the wall he’d chosen as his center of attention.

  Dee looked to her right, where the narrow hall opened up behind Porrima’s office into another seating area similar to the gaming room. It was a distracted observation, the notice reflected somewhere in the recess of her brain, not enough stimulus to distract from the sense of imprisonment her meeting with Porrima had left on her. It was a feeling she wanted to shake off like a dog throwing water from its fur. Except she knew this wouldn’t help. She wasn’t sure there was help for it.

  Boots made some subtle movement that anchored her attention to him.

  He’d opened up a bit while they’d played their games, but standing in front of her now, he was the perfect example of stoic bodyguard. The whites of his eyes shown in the dim lighting of the corridor. Deep brown eyes were points of darkness inside that white, and she knew pearl white teeth lined the inside of his mouth. She also knew his laugh was hearty and warm, a comforting sound she’d found herself purposefully trying to pull from him as they’d lost themselves in the fantasy of video battles.

  She focused more closely on her newest guard, wondering at the use of grey in their garb over the more typical black. Was there some tactical advantage, or was it simply a way to tell their Soldiers from the others? Even his weapons weren’t the usual black, but charcoal that blended with the grey of his suit. She couldn’t help but think how cool the gun would look in the darkness of his hand.

  As she thought it, her eyes drifted to said hands where she spotted the hidden knife at his wrist.

  “Dee?”

  Dee turned to the voice on her left.

  It was Daniel, voice pitched so her name held numerous questions. Her eyes, glazed from the swirl of thoughts and stresses she’d avoided through a game of find-the-weapon, blinked.

  His eyebrows rose in further question at her blank stare.

  She forced a smile. I’m good. I’m here.

  She forgot they couldn’t communicate this way, but didn’t bother replacing the silent words with audible ones. Instead, she stepped towards him, Boots on her heels. Daniel pivoted to the side when she was a few paces away, eyes continuing to ask what he wouldn’t out loud.

  Moving through the space where they’d played games to the seating area closer to the cockpit, Dee took a place in one of the oversized bucket chairs. She chose one in the front row near the wall to give herself the illusion of solitude. So her guards would think she was instigating a nap, she reclined the seat. Excited when the chair pivoted, an excellent upgrade from the typical static airline seats, Dee spun to face the wall.

  Settled into this delusional sanctuary, Dee managed a handful of minutes of quiet.

  Amrae had followed Daniel and Boots, who’d trailed Dee to this new location. The two males took their positions a few rows back, Dee assumed as a play to respect her privacy. The female paced the aisle. After her second tour, Dee was able to filter out the distraction.

  She might have dozed off.

  Pulled open by some subtle shift in the energy around her, Dee’s eyes revealed Amrae lunging towards her, knife sweeping with a strong, downward plunge.

  A surge of adrenaline amplified Dee’s reaction time. She slipped down her chair, collapsing so her head lay in the seat as the blade sunk through the leather where Dee’s chest had been. A small portion of her brain acknowledged how close the blade had come to hitting its mark while the rest propelled movement.

  While Daniel reacted and Boots scrambled, Dee forced her hands up and into Amrae’s chest, hearing ribs pop and crack. The Soldier was pushed upwards, the sound of her hitting the ceiling vibrating through the space.

  Daniel skipped the time it would take to draw a weapon, instead diving with bare hands. He arrived in time to pull the traitor from the air as she fell, planting her into the aisle, face down, knee pinned to her back with a hand on the back of her head.

  When Dee found herself sliding across the floor, she freaked, flailing and kicking wildly to escape the grip someone had on her.

  It was Daniel’s voice that finally broke through her panic. “Dee. Dee! Desiree! Relax. Boots is not attacking you. He’s getting you away from the area of danger.”

  The words filtered to the rational part of her brain hidden deep under the rush of adrenaline and she went limp. Boots picked her up and had her back in the gaming den with weapons drawn, eyes scouring every inch of space while Dee stared uncomprehendingly towards where they’d come from.

  Amrae had tried to kill her.

  20

  A rush of feet flowed around Dee, but all she could manage was a blank stare.

  Amrae had tried to kill her.

  She tried to swallow. Tried to keep her breaths steady, tried not to crumble into a ball of nerves and fright. The aftermath of the adrenaline burst set her limbs trembling, and if Kang hadn't walked into the room, she would have sat down. The commander's look, a piercing glance that told his opinion that she was more trouble than she was worth, pinned her in place.

  She took a deep breath. Another. Crumbling to a pile of anxiety would have to wait.

  Kang's mood hadn't improved since their first meeting, and Dee used that. She gobbled up that negative energy, reciprocating his arrogant distaste to stave off the reality of emotions battering to show her weakness.

  Boots moved towards him, snapping a salute before briefing Kang on what happened. The commander's eyes never left Dee's face. She held that gaze, unblinking, daring him to say something, anything that would justify some reaction. In his expression she read his opinion that she was to blame for his Soldier turning traitor.

  "Ensure the conspirator's been secured. Send two out to look after our guest."

  Boots snapped another salute before pivoting crisply.

  Dee watched him leave, used the moment to tap the room and check on Daniel and Amrae.

  Dee's would-be assassin was still alive, Daniel's contained rage held by a thin thread. Boots' assurance of Dee's safety settled Daniel enough that he let two others take over securing Amrae whose injuries left her limp on the floor. But he didn't come out to check on Dee himself.

  On impulse, Dee stepped towards the room of her attack, pulled by a need to know who'd set Amrae to this
task. But Kang was there, standing in her path, expression daring her to push him. She almost did. She almost poked the bear into a fight she knew she could finish. Yet, whatever grief Kang or any other gave her, killing any of them would leave her in worse circumstances. Even if they deserved it.

  Two Soldiers stepped into view from the compartment of the attack. They noted Dee's stand-off with Kang, both loosening weapons without pulling them.

  "Sir?" The smaller male looked from his commander to Dee while his partner, a taller female, watched Dee with controlled attention.

  "I think our guest is a little on edge. Watch her in case someone else was in on this plot. We'll secure her to another room once I've seen this traitor for myself."

  Kang gave Dee another cursory glance, the hard line in his eyes clearly dictating she stay put.

  His disappearance from the room took her energy for posturing, her shocked state returning in exponential bounds while she stared into the room that should have been where she died.

  The ground can tell you things your senses can't. Sometimes, in spite of your senses. Your eyes can be deceived. Your ears distracted. The Earth will never lie.

  Was this what Pollux was talking about? Had this been what saved her, this ability to listen?

  It was the perfect thing to distract her attention, something to focus on, so the stress of being almost-assassinated didn't take her down screaming.

  Deep breath in.

  Exhale out.

  Amrae had tried to kill her.

  Pain pulsed across her forehead, throbbed at the base of her neck. She pressed her index and middle fingers to her temples, applying pressure she hoped would release the tension.

  But this was so much more than that.

  Deep breaths through the nose.

  Hold for two.

  Release.