by Regan Black
Nathan was sitting in the chair next to the god-forsaken hospital bed moving things about the room with his mind. He'd made it through an embarrassingly short shower and his legs felt too rubbery to stand, but he damned sure didn't want to lie around anymore. He wanted a gym, a steak, an hour alone with Kristoff, and Kelly. Not necessarily in that order.
He was thinking of Kelly, aka Calisto, when he felt his sister approaching. More tea, no doubt. He dropped the various items floating through the air into their rightful places and pushed Kelly to the back of his mind.
Resigned, he didn't bother to put on a smile when Petra knocked lightly and pushed open the door. "Will this be as vile as the last one?" he demanded. "I only shut a door in your face. Surely we're even by now."
She smiled her irritatingly serene smile just to aggravate him. "You made a crack about my belly too."
There was that. He took the cup she held out to him and sniffed cautiously. This one smelled rather flowery, but the last one had smelled minty and tasted foul. He would've preferred a cup of Slick Micky's best.
"Tomorrow, if you're still up and about, we'll try the full-caff."
"As stimulants go, it's the best." Seeing Petra's thoughtful frown, he charged on. "I know why you didn't start with that. Any word on where the list came from?"
"None." Petra sat on the bed, but couldn't seem to get comfortable. "Although Lorine recognizes the inherent properties of the herbals, she doesn't have any better ideas."
"She's probably more effective breaking down the Paracuron."
Pet nodded, fidgeting some more. "Can we trade?"
Nathan set the tea aside, hoping she'd forget it, and concentrated on making the move without showing his sister how much it cost him. "I detest this bed," he grumbled, arranging his legs. "And I'm getting damned tired of this room."
"There's the brother I've been waiting for."
When she beamed at him he was helpless to stay grumpy, but he tried. "So what is it you don't want to say?" It better not have anything to do with Kelly.
"Not Kelly," she said.
He hadn't meant to set that thought loose, but Petra continued, "I'm here about us. I'm not sure you realize what a risk we are to each other."
"Beyond doors and bad tea?"
"Listen to me," she pleaded. "Kristoff engineered both of us. He made plans for us our parents never intended."
"He's an 'eeevil geeenius'," he put air quotes around the words, just because his hands were working so well. "He deceived hundreds of couples and more than one government agency. Aren't you getting a little paranoid?"
"I found out more details while you were…gone."
Her quiet intensity stopped his teasing. He waited.
"Mom and Dad bartered for us –"
He'd barely absorbed that detail when she dropped the real bombshell.
"–and he gave them twins three years apart."
"Impossible." He had no other words. It was an absurd claim. When it came to fertility drugs and testing and in vitro was there really a difference?
Petra's voice was a faint buzzing in the background as he worked out the implications of the news. Their individual gifts, their strengths and weaknesses, their special connection. It all rushed through his mind; thoughts colliding and careening in too many directions.
"Stop!" she cried, her hands gripping her head.
"Sorry." He hovered, wanting to touch, but not daring. "I didn't mean to project. It just doesn't make sense. Aren't all in vitro babies basically fraternal twins?"
"Yes and no. I've been researching." Her head came up and her hands came down, as if she wasn't sure the distance was safe. When it appeared her head wouldn't roll off her shoulders, she gave him a faint smile. "In his own records he explains it. But the short version is he took a lot more liberties in the lab with us."
"He was expanding his own research."
She nodded. "The backdoor programming – the bells I heard – I'm worried he's done the same with you."
"I'm not hearing things."
"No, but what if the Paracuron gives him some control, some influence over your mind? You need to be careful, Nathan.
"The push and pull of this paralysis worries me. He knows you at a cellular level, what if –"
"You can't waste time worrying, Pet," he interrupted ruthlessly. "You're thriving. Clearly you've shaken him off."
Her eyes clouded with unspoken visions and the small line between her brows told a different story. "You're hearing things again?"
"No. It's not like that. I'm free, except for this lingering unease. When I was on that last flight…with him…" she gripped his hand, hung on tight as she continued. "He needs us both. Whatever he put in us, he thinks he can have it back. He means to use it for himself. Am I making sense?"
"Yes." He could admit the concept terrified him. "How did you resist?"
She withdrew her soothing touch, leaning back into the chair. "I didn't. Not completely. He used me. Though he didn't get all he wanted, he got a significant piece."
"I don't understand."
"I hope you will when it matters. Don't brush this off Nathan. You went undercover after him, but he's after something – after you – and he'll be ruthless."
"Gee, you're such a comfort."
"It's a gift," she said, smiling. They rested in the silence for another moment. "Tea or coffee in the morning?"
"Definitely coffee."
"You got it."
It was a small consolation, one he latched on to as his mind continued to whirl. Petra stood, brushed a kiss to his cheek and left, apparently content to tilt his world on edge and leave him to set it straight again.
His body tingled as if it wanted to slip back into the Paracuron's hold and the needle of pain was back at his temples. He responded with his most effective meditation technique, creating first a strong box and then folding all of this trouble and pain into it. Lastly he locked it and stacked it with the others.
Then he swung himself out of bed as if he'd never suffered a single moment of illness or debilitation. It didn't end well and his knees would surely be bruised by morning, not to mention the elbow that hit the bed frame. No matter. He hauled himself upright and he intended to stay that way.
Straightening his robe, he concentrated on each step of his jerking stride, pacing the room until he smoothed it out to almost normal. Then he collapsed back in the chair and called the nurse. He was ready for some real food.
* * *
Kelly was in Slick Micky's gym burning off her confusion and anticipation when Jaden's message found her. Following the instructions, she made her way back to suite 325 for brunch.
She knocked, nudging the cracked door all the way open. "Am I interrupting?"
Jaden and Petra were breakfasting in the living room. It was a friendly, more sisterly tableau than yesterday's kitchen lab. She hoped the feeling lasted through the meal.
"Not at all." Petra patted the arm of the nearest chair. "Help yourself and come sit down."
Someone had laid out sweet pastries, fresh fruits, and toast on the sideboard with a silver coffee service. She filled a plate and poured herself an oversized mug of Slick Micky's fully caffeinated coffee. Her appetite had returned this morning and after a sleepless night of making tough decisions, the strong coffee would be a big help.
She intended to leave by noon – after saying a proper goodbye this time.
"Wow, you've been busy," Kelly said to Petra, digging into her food. "Thanks."
"Thank Micky's chef." Jaden snorted. "Petra wishes she ate like this at home."
"Ignore her," Petra suggested, clicking a remote and bringing the wall mounted monitor to life. "Forgive me, but our, ah, encounter yesterday sparked my curiosity."
Of course it did. Kelly focused on the flavor of the perfect combination of ripe melon in her mouth.
"When you went missing, we looked for you, but there's not a Kelly Gadrine on file anywhere beyond five years ago."
"Sounds
about right," she admitted.
"Kelly," Petra reached, but didn't make personal contact. "I trust you. I understand the reasons you left. You have to trust me now. Please?"
Trust the woman who'd danced through her head for answers Kelly wasn't ready to share? Food, even the coffee, was pointless and Kelly set her plate on the coffee table with precise movements, hoping her shaky nerves weren't evident. When she could meet Petra's eyes, the woman was a study in Madonna-like serenity. Kelly was a tempest. Inside, her anger churned with unspent grief whipping her emotions to unprecedented levels.
She pictured herself rising, saying goodbye, and walking out the door. Apparently she managed none of it.
"Based on the memories I glimpsed, I've done more poking around. Not in your head," Petra assured. "The Field museum made an acquisition when you were about five years old."
Goose bumps raced down Kelly's arms. She pressed her lips together, regretting the untimely reminder of Nathan's warm mouth. Lord, she felt herself blushing. She didn't need any more emotion; she might just explode.
"Here's the picture from the records, but it was never put on display."
Kelly looked from Petra to the monitor and her jaw dropped. She'd lost any remote ability to dissemble when the map box she knew so well filled the screen. Even through the picture, she knew she was looking at the genuine article, though she'd never be able to explain how she knew.
"Never displayed?" she managed at last. "How can you be sure? How did you find it?"
"They requested special security. Plus, there was my dad's connection to Burckhardt the explorer. The spelling may have changed, but the genes haven't. We're a curious lot."
"Annoyingly so," Jaden interjected.
Kelly startled, she'd forgotten everyone else, everything else.
Petra blanked the monitor, gaining Kelly's focus. "Your family must've been terribly worried that you settled so close to the very thing they tried to keep you away from."
"I never told them exactly where I was." Thank God. She might've had different reasons initially, but she was doubly grateful now that she'd opted to use a post office box in a small southern Indiana town. Had her mother known where her father had parked the original maps?
Kelly couldn't believe her mother wouldn't have told her after the memorial services if she'd known. No, it made more sense that her father had every intention of keeping her away from both the copy and the original map box and out of the family business entirely.
"How do you recognize the map box?" Jaden asked.
Kelly only shook her head. Everything was all folding in on her, she felt smaller, compressed and fragile. What started as her personal investigation, her quest, had diverted to a prison break, and now just seemed like chaos on top of turmoil. For a woman who valued order and tradition, it was a serious personal test when information wouldn't fall into line.
Petra touched her, but she obviously wasn't running open since neither of them passed out. "We can help you find justice for your family."
Kelly pinched her brow. "You saw that too?"
"Your grief is all over your aura." She sat back. "Except when you're with Nathan."
Kelly's face went hot. Though her olive skin would hide some of the effect, Petra surely caught the blush.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but your family was entrusted with the protection of the map box generations ago."
"Yes." She was grateful to get back on topic.
"The box was initially found in the city of Petra, in Jordan?"
"So the legend goes."
"That's the same box Kristoff sent me after the day you disappeared."
Kelly's head snapped up. "But the box has been –"
"Don't tell her!" Jaden leaped to her feet. "Don't tell anyone. If your family managed to stay off the radar this long, don't blow everything."
"But you said you saw…"
"Not everything. Only the stuff on the surface." Petra frowned at her. "That was enough."
"It's too much." Shame and shock swamped her. She had blown everything. "I thought I could deal. I can't."
"You have to." Jaden was behind Kelly, her fingers kneading Kelly's shoulders. "Kristoff wants that box. He nearly killed Petra to get it. Makes sense he jumped your family –"
"But how would he know about them? No one knows about the G – about us."
"How doesn't matter once the deed's done." Jaden gave her a shake. "You were trained in mental and physical disciplines, right? Lived a secluded life, family first, traditions out the wahzoo?"
Kelly let her head flop back on the chair with a thud. "Yes. To all of it."
"Tell me your first thought when you got to the scene." Jaden put herself directly in front of Kelly. "After the shock, I mean. What did you do?"
"I sent the rest of them to safety and did what I could to secure the area."
"Why?"
"Because when whoever attacked realizes they stole a fake, they'll come back."
Jaden nodded. "That's exactly right. You hang on to that training, to who you are, to what you know. Now. How long did you stay on scene?"
"Only a day or two. I'd planned to stay longer, to analyze the scene for clues. And wait and see who returned, but Nathan needed help."
"And thank you again for giving it," Petra said.
Jaden shot her a look and jumped right back on point. "Any reason to go back now?"
"No." Her first life was over. Everything her family had known and built was probably lost, if not destroyed. They would restart from the safe house. It stung to be the last of her generation of guardians. To have such a total failure occur on her watch, no matter that she hadn't been there personally.
So much was riding on her shoulders. She rolled them to keep from slouching.
"That's it," Jaden coached. "One breath at a time. You've been through a lot, but hang tough. We can make this right."
"Justice is her middle name," said a deep voice.
Kelly looked up, surprised to see Brian and Gideon hovering behind Petra. She hadn't heard them come in. With skills as lacking as hers, it was no wonder her father kicked her out. Embarrassment heated her face all over again.
"First thing, unless you disagree," Jaden said, her gaze darting to Petra, "recover the original map box before Kristoff learns it's been right here in his backyard the whole time."
Petra nodded, lips tight.
Kelly looked at each of the four determined faces, unwilling to trust her voice, she simply nodded her agreement. Her family wouldn't be safe, the treasures wouldn't be safe, until the map box was safe again.
It seemed she'd inadvertently completed her first order of business to find the original map box. She could almost hear her father groaning that she was their only hope. Her planned goodbyes would wait – she was definitely staying awhile longer.
* * *
Kristoff stood in his private lab, grateful to be back and safe after near capture in that god-forsaken desolation of Kansas. This was a mere fraction of what had been within his control just months ago, but the experiments and the feedback kept him calm in the face of such chaos.
In the days since Nathan eluded him, he'd been sending signals out. When they proved fruitless, he sent himself in a poor imitation of Petra's out of body skills. Nothing generated any reply or further information, which meant he didn't have any real answers. Nathan could be dead by now, and Kristoff wouldn't know.
Kristoff wanted – needed – him alive.
In a spike of rage, the doctor swept an arm across a counter and sent beakers, petri dishes, and computerized notepads crashing to the floor. The Burkhardt children were examples of his best work and this is how they repaid him? He'd given them priceless abilities, given their parents two living treasures, and now they were rallying society against him.
Heedless of the mess, he stomped to the next table, where the current mutation of a Paracuron virus was growing. His hands fisted, bits of crushed glass stuck to his skin. He moved to trash it all.
<
br /> "Hold!"
Kristoff nearly disobeyed. Nearly.
The goddess was foolish to presume she could simply appear and demand his good behavior. Although presumptuous and goddess surely were exchangeable terms. He faced her as an equal – she was in his domain now.
"It is useless," he argued, unwilling to back down. She could hardly do anything to worsen the fate he knew she saved just for him. His ultimate failure made him desolate and he'd rather get life over with so little to live for. "The viral was to control him. Now I cannot even find him. He's surely dead by now."
"He is not dead," she declared. "Tell me how would he help you?"
Kristoff brushed away the bits of glass that were burrowing into his skin. "His telepathy and telekinesis are off the charts! Leading my juiced soldiers, my forces would be invincible."
The apparition of the goddess nodded as if she discussed military superiority every day. Maybe she did, he didn't much care, unless it helped him meet his goals. That's how they'd found each other and agreed on an exchange of tasks and payments.
He'd been young, and too eager. She'd been willing to satisfy his immediate desires. He'd traded the moment for eternity and still could not regret it. Everything he'd ever wanted was his – had been his – until Petra started to unravel it all.
"You wish to get even? This is why you stay in this hovel?"
She knew his answer, but they both understood the illusion of free will was part of her game.
"Of course, my Queen. They have not shown proper gratitude for my expertise, and therefore have not properly honored you." He knew the right buttons after all this time. The demon goddess Nin-Hur-Sag was solely focused on reclaiming her power and cult following.
"I will help you reach the man you seek."
He waited, knowing he wouldn't like the terms of payment.
"And you will continue your search for the box."
Her and that blasted box. There weren't thousands of other things to chase? Things of gold and gems and real value? But no, she wanted some worthless set of ancient world maps.
"Worth isn't measured equally among men," she said in a ringing tone that required immediate obedience. "Are we agreed?"