Grounding Gracus (First Wave Book 6)

by Mikayla Lane

  She was stunned when an image of a lone woman that she hadn’t seen before, appeared in front of them, dressed in the same kind of pants and shirt that she’d seen in TV shows from the 50s.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Gracus and Gibly turned to Rebecca and the image of the woman that popped up beside her when she touched the door. Unlike the other images that they’d seen up to this point, this woman looked seriously pissed off.

  “Fiorn! You can’t keep us locked away from the damn world, under the guise of protecting us! You’ve only created a different kind of prison!” the woman said angrily, before her image vanished.

  Rebecca let go of the door and turned to Gracus curiously. He shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea what’s going on and I can’t get hold of Grai because this… place, is blocking my ability to use the Shengari’ with anyone outside. We need to find a way out of here,” Gracus said as he looked around.

  He was more unsettled over the image of the woman than he wanted to admit. Fiorn was one of the strongest and most determined warriors on their planet. Gracus had no doubt the man could be overbearing if he thought he was protecting his people. That wasn’t what bothered him. It was this place.

  It was something he and his beast agreed on. Neither was comfortable here. The place gave off a creepy, unsettled energy that was difficult to ignore. Yet, Clatz told him that Rebecca and her beast felt none of it. In fact, their energy was not only increasing, it was expanding into a bubble around her.

  Gracus wasn’t sure what that meant, but it concerned him. As far as he knew, only the Tezarians could expand and contract their energy in order to use the particular talent of their house. Rebecca wasn’t a Tezarian and he had no idea if there were long term effects of maintaining that kind of an energy peak. He ordered Clatz to keep a close eye on her energy and to let him know if it gets any higher, then turned to Rebecca.

  “Let’s go check out the other hallways before we open that door. We have enough to explore right now without getting turned around in this place and its endless doors,” he suggested as he held his hand out to her to help her through the weapon debris field around them.

  Gibly hopped over the overturned guns, rifles, swords and other miscellaneous weapons and headed back down the hallway while Rebecca grinned at Gracus and accepted his hand. She picked her way over what would be a weapon museum’s dream and for some reason kept hold of Gracus’s hand once she stepped on uncluttered ground.

  Gracus’s breath seemed to strangle in his throat when she turned her hand in his and threaded her fingers through his own, instead of pulling away as he expected. He couldn’t stop the wide smile that broke out over his face as he beamed down at her.

  Rebecca smiled shyly before turning to watch Gibly as he trotted leisurely down the hallway, back to the main room. She had no idea why she suddenly felt like holding his hand, but now that she had, she was very glad that she did. The energy that was roaring through her veins was a lot calmer when she was touching him.

  She was sure that it must be because she’d never really noticed the energy before that it just seemed like it was a bit too much to handle. Hell, this whole damn thing still felt like a strange dream, so it didn’t surprise her that feeling the energy was a little overwhelming.

  Besides, she assured herself, wouldn’t the crazy parasite know if something was wrong? The damn thing was all up in the rest of her business, surely it would have said something. Wouldn’t it? she wondered.

  Rebecca heard the sigh in her mind and knew the nosy creature had listened in on her private thoughts when it spoke to her. “I do know that something is happening to our energy. I am trying to figure out what is causing it to continue increasing.”

  Rebecca was a little pissed off. “Why the hell didn’t you say anything?”

  Lanze wasn’t real happy with her attitude and snapped back, “I didn’t want to worry your puny little head with such complicated matters.”

  “Look, you single celled, annoying prick! This crap where you get to spy on every damn thought I have, but hide things from me, is going to end now. If you knew there was a damn problem with our energy, you should have said something. Hell, maybe Gracus knows what the hell is wrong! Did you ever think of that?” she asked with a huff, before she realized that Gracus was staring at her in surprise while Gibly snickered.

  “What is wrong with your energy?” Gracus asked, concern etched in his voice.

  Rebecca shook her head. “It’s nothing. We just have a lot more than normal running through me,” she said offhandedly.

  Gracus wasn’t going to be deterred and asked his own beast to assess Rebecca and Lanze to see if they were alright. He’d noticed at the touch of her hand that her energy was running high, it was flowing freely into him and deepening the bond between them, the energy strands becoming tighter and stronger. But, he hadn’t realized that it was something that was also concerning her beast.

  “Hey, let’s just follow Gibly this time. It was stupid to just stand there and wait for him to come back,” Rebecca said when they reached the main area.

  Gracus nodded and followed her as she pulled him after Gibly down the middle hallway. He was a little frustrated when they came to an area that looked like it was used to triage patients. There were beds, cabinets filled with glass jars containing cotton balls and bandages and other medical equipment. It looked like a collection that spanned at least a hundred years. And another damn door.

  Rebecca grinned as she pulled Gracus to the door and put her hand on it. An image popped up of a man, his shirt soaked in blood. He was leaning against the door, one hand clutching his chest while the other reached out. The pain in his voice when he spoke rattled Rebecca to her core.

  “Mary! Mary, don’t leave me! Mary, live for me!”

  Rebecca jerked her hand back and Gracus pulled her close to him. He was also a little disturbed by the images that Rebecca was revealing from the past, from the energy of the events that had played out here. At this point it was hard to tell if Fiorn had gone insane and imprisoned everyone, or if this place had been attacked…

  Clatz interrupted his thoughts. “There are a dozen other less dramatic reasons for it as well.”

  “I wasn’t done thinking of different reasons, but yes those are the top two at the moment,” Gracus replied before he let Rebecca pull him down the last hallway, on the far left.

  Rebecca felt giddy and a little light headed from all the energy and had to stop herself from skipping down the tunnel after Gibly. This time it opened up on a dining center. One big enough to hold at least ten people.

  Rebecca couldn’t stop herself from opening up a few cabinets and was a little surprised to find everything from MREs, to canned foods and food bars. There was a working stove, so there was electricity running through this place somehow, she thought as she turned one of the knobs and the burner began to heat up.

  As with the other rooms, there were canned foods from companies that Rebecca had never heard of and she assumed had gone out of business. Plates and cutlery were obviously mismatched from many years past. She figured they were the only survivors of the full sets they must have once been, the others breaking over the years.

  She turned and grinned at another door. This time when she tried to pull Gracus towards the door so she could touch it, he refused to move. Rebecca looked at him curiously and he sighed before allowing her to pull him towards it.

  There was Fiorn standing against the door with two other men. All three looked beaten and worn out, but they all held up various glasses and bottles and grinned broadly.

  “To Fiorn! And the incredibly amazing people around us who made it all happen!” the man to the right of Fiorn said.

  Fiorn cleared his throat. “No, we do not drink to me. We drink to those who fell so we could be safe!” Fiorn said with a hearty shout and Rebecca could almost feel the vibration of the cheers it probably invoked in his weary people.

  She let go of the door and looked around the ro
om for a second before she yanked up the bar and pulled the handle. Gibly raced through the door and they found themselves in another hallway, this one with many doors and hallways leading off from it.

  Rebecca looked to her right and nodded. “I bet it leads to the other doors in the other tunnels,” she said, knowing somehow that she was right.

  By his own calculations, Gracus knew that she was right and just nodded his head as he turned back to look at all the doors. He was not thrilled at the prospect of opening them all and doing a full search of the facility, but they really didn’t have a choice if they wanted to find a way out. And he wanted out of here.

  Gracus squeezed Rebecca’s hand to get her attention and loved the way she looked up at him with a beautiful smile on her face, as if she was enjoying herself. Although, he couldn’t figure out what she could like about this place. It was creepy, he thought.

  “We need to do a full search, room by room, and see if anyone is here. Gibly, stay on the other side of the hall and be ready to attack if needed,” Gracus said.

  Gibly nodded his head and Gracus turned to Rebecca. “I need you to stay behind me, but be prepared to shoot. Just not me,” he added with a smile.

  Rebecca grinned and nodded her head. “I’ve seen cop shows on TV. I’m pretty sure I can avoid hitting you,” Rebecca said, knowing that Gracus was teasing her. He’d seen the perfect heart shots she’d made in the dark one and knew she could handle a gun.

  Gracus grinned broadly when Rebecca still didn’t let go of his hand. Although he hated to do it, he pulled her hand to his mouth and tenderly placed several kisses to the back of it, before pulling his hand from hers and grabbing his weapon.

  Rebecca frowned and nodded her head as she pulled her own gun from the back of her pants. She followed Gracus to the first door in the hallway and positioned herself behind him while Gibly crossed to the other side of the hallway, next to another door.

  Several hours later, they’d investigated every room, hallway and tunnel in the place and still hadn’t found a way out. Instead, they sat in a dining center and sipped some water while they waited for their dinner to heat.

  They had learned that the place could easily be a permanent home for at least a hundred people. There were even enough supplies laid in to feed and care for that many for at least an equivalent of days. But they hadn’t found anyone or even a clue to where they may have gone. Or how to get out.

  They hadn’t found any other heavy metal doors, like they had discovered in the tunnels that had led here. He’d seen something that looked like a portal room, but like the outer and inner comm centers that they’d found, there was no power and they’d found no way to turn the equipment on.

  Gracus had kept Rebecca from touching everything, afraid that maybe the images she was summoning from the past were contributing to her escalating energy and had noted that her levels had stabilized since leaving things alone.

  He was a little worried that they may need her to touch things, in order to figure out how the hell to get out of the place. That worried him a lot. Instead, he’d decided that they would essentially camp out in the inner community area and wait for Grai and the others to get there. As an option, it wasn’t his favorite, but he didn’t see any better choice at the moment.

  Gracus pasted a smile on his face when Rebecca came to the table with a tray laden with food. He had no desire to frighten or worry her and decided to keep his concerns to himself.

  Rebecca laid the tray on the table and began putting bowls and plates in front of him, to the side and in front of herself. Gracus was a little surprised at what she’d been able to create in such a short time.

  “Gibly, come eat,” Rebecca said as she laid out a bowl of water and several plates on the table for the cat.

  Gibly looked at her with his head tilted to the side, black eyes glittering strangely. Rebecca looked up and saw that he was still sitting on the tabletop near the door, where he could see the hallway.

  “Gibly, we need all team members well fed and hydrated. So get your butt over here and eat something. It’s not like there are small critters in here that you can catch. This place is really clean. Considering we’re in a mountain,” Rebecca said with a happy grin.

  Gibly continued to look at her oddly for a moment before he jumped down from the table and padded over to her and sat on the floor near her feet.

  Rebecca and Gracus had already begun to dig in to the stew and biscuits that Rebecca had heated and it took her a moment to realize that Gibly still hadn’t come up to eat. Wondering if he thought it undignified to jump on the dinner table, Rebecca used her foot to push the chair out that was in front of his plates and bowl.

  “Here Gibly, just jump up on the chair to get to the table,” Rebecca said with a smile as she looked down at him.

  Gibly cocked his head to the side. “You want Gibly to eat at the table with you?” he asked, his eyes glittering.

  Rebecca looked at Gracus, the question in her eyes and when he just shrugged, she turned back to look at the cat. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to offend you. I just thought… well… we’re kind of a group. A team. Like when I take people on the river. We always eat together…,” Rebecca said, wondering if she was supposed to put his food on the floor or something. It didn’t feel right to her to do that though.

  Gibly jumped up on the chair and sat tall enough to lean his head into the bowl and drink the water, and eat the cans of tuna that Rebecca had put onto a plate for him.

  He bowed his head regally. “Thank you. I apologize for my confusion, normally we are treated as an afterthought, or useful pet. I am not used to being treated as one of the team,” Gibly said before he quietly lapped some water.

  Rebecca glared at Gracus, who just shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t have much to do with the cats up to this point other than dodging them through the corridors of the Adaria. So he had no idea if there were problems with the way the cats were being treated in the field.

  When Gracus didn’t offer any explanations, Rebecca turned to Gibly. “You saved our lives. If you hadn’t warned us of… that thing, he could have killed us. To me, that makes you more than an equal, but also a friend. My friends eat with me and deserve respect. I’m glad you’re here,” Rebecca said softly to the cat.

  He purred loudly until he gained control of himself and nodded. “Thank you… my friend.”

  They spent the rest of the meal in silence, listening to the eerie quiet all around them. Rebecca couldn’t help but think of a popular zombie movie, set in a place just like this, only underground. Zombies weren’t something she believed in, but until the other day she didn’t believe in gorgeous aliens and talking cats either.

  Even the crazy bug in her head was quiet. Once they’d searched the facility, the bug had informed her that it needed to rest so that it could be alert while she slept. She had cheered the return of the silence in her mind. However, it only last about an hour before she actually missed the damn thing! How the hell that had happened, she’d never know. But, somehow the damn thing had gotten under her skin.

  Once they finished the meal and had cleaned up the dishes in the sink, they moved into the largest of the bedrooms they’d found. The bed was definitely a custom made one, which was larger than a king. Easily big enough to hold all three of them. There was also a small sitting area to one side and Rebecca went to sit in one of the chairs, followed by Gracus.

  Gibly was the last in the room and he stood at the door until Rebecca said, “Gibly, you need to take first sleep with Gracus. I’ll wake you guys in…”

  “No,” Gracus said, interrupting her. “My beast sleeps as yours does. Gibly can rest now and I will remain awake with you. When Gibly awakens, he can keep watch with Clatz and Lanze,” Gracus said.

  Rebecca shrugged, secretly glad that Gracus would stay awake with her and sleep with her. She tried not to think of what she’d like to do in that big bed with him and instead, turned back to Gibly.

  “You can talk to t
he beasts, right? So you won’t be alone?” Rebecca asked, not wanting Gibly to be alone on watch duty. That’d be too damn creepy, she thought.

  Gibly nodded his head and laid down on the floor by the door. “I can speak freely with the beasts without your knowledge,” he said with a small smile on his face.

  Rebecca snorted. “Then what the hell are you doing on the cold floor? Get in the bed and get some sleep!” Rebecca said, making shooing motions towards the bed with her hands.

  When he still didn’t move, she went to the bed and patted the blanket on the end of it. Suddenly, an image appeared of Fiorn, sitting on the end of the bed with his head in his hands.

  “I will not fail our children! I will not fail!” Fiorn said, pulling his hands from his head as he shouted at the ceiling.

  Rebecca yanked her hand back from the bed as Gracus stood and pulled her away from it. Gibly jumped up on the bed where she’d patted it and curled up into a small ball, where the image of Fiorn had sat only moments before.

  “Thank you, friend,” Gibly said, before he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

  Rebecca smiled at the beautiful and amazing cat, tempted to pet his soft fur. She wouldn’t do it though. Not without his permission. Unwilling to talk out loud and wake the obviously exhausted cat, she spoke to Gracus through the Shengari’.

  “Why do you treat them so badly?” she asked.

  Gracus was startled at the question. “What do you mean? I don’t treat them badly, I only see them running through the halls on my ship! This is the first time I’ve actually worked with one of them!”

  Rebecca snorted. “Someone isn’t respecting them. You can tell that it bothers him. If it bothers him, then it’s bothering his people. It’s obvious he’s a leader, his people will take their cue from him. I can’t believe you guys, as advanced as you are, can’t see how amazing they are and yet how depressed he seems. It’s like you take them for granted and treat them as pets at the same time. Your people suck.”

  Gracus’s eyebrows flew up and he looked at her in shock. “How the hell do you get all that from spending a few hours with him? They are treated very well! Special care is taken in their health and their need to roam and be stimulated,” Gracus said, thinking of the different areas that had been modified specifically for the needs of the cats on the ship and the animal doctors that were specially trained in the care and health of them.