Looking away, Ezra continues. “It was a miniature computer. This device recorded neurological and physical changes within the body during and after travel. As protocol, after every mission, Sebastian’s associates collected the data to check for any changes or abnormalities. Across the board, the data showed increased levels of copper in those who were implanted. The levels of copper contributed to alterations within the body, making those implanted superior.”
Nate questions, “Superior? In what way were they superior?
Thoughts start firing in my head. Alterations in the body making the implanted superior. Alterations.
Ezra’s voice is filled with worry. I tune back in enough to hear him say “…physical strength and speed. Psychic abilities, such as clairvoyance, telepathy...”
His mouth is moving, but I’m not listening anymore. Are we implanted? I almost speak the words, but instead, I quickly shut my gaping mouth.
Nate guardedly looks at me. “Jes?”
Ezra’s gaze focuses on me. He’s just sitting there, waiting for me to ask.
I don’t ask the question sitting on the tip of my tongue, wanting to leave my lips. If I do, I’ll slip below the surface of reality, sinking into a sea of new truths that I will have to surface from. I don’t know if I can handle that. I don’t know if I’ll be able to surface once I hear the answer to the unspoken question lingering in the atmosphere.
Ezra sits back in his chair, crossing his arms in front of his chest. His voice is soft when he speaks. “You are both implanted with Copulas.”
Yep, I’m slipping deep below the surface. I feel every hair on my body stand on end. My throat constricts, and I can’t get enough air.
I push my chair back and stand slowly. Nate reaches out to hold my arm and steady me, but I pull away from his grasp. I need to get out of here. I charge quickly to the coat closet and grab my sweatshirt.
Nate calls after me. “Jesca, wait! Where are you going?”
Ezra reprimands Nate, “Nate, let her go!”
I ignore them and run out the back door.
Chapter 2
Jesca
I pull my hooded sweatshirt over my head to shield me from the chill in the air. It’s mid-August, and the weather could easily pass for late November in Georgia. I cross my arms over my chest and walk quickly down the beach. I feel my lungs tighten, and I can’t get enough air.
Damn it. Don’t have a panic attack, Jes. Breathe.
I should be relieved. That one missing puzzle piece of my life has been found. With the piece in place, it strips the mystery away, explaining what I am and why.
My fear is spiking as I continue to walk along the beach. I cough out a sob, and hot tears begin to roll down my cheeks. The frigid air dries them quickly.
What does this Copula make me? Am I an alien?
The Copula has altered me. But, what did it alter me from? What was I like before I was implanted? Did they implant me to save me or make me into something they needed? Am I a weapon for the fellowship?
I feel violated, like my whole life has been predetermined without my input. What about Nate? Has his future been cast for him? Has our link to each other been determined all along as well?
The last question makes my heart ache, and my skin turns hot from panic.
From the moment I met Nate, the attraction was instantaneous. I knew it was for him as well.
Is that because of the link? Could the Copula be the sole reason Nate and I feel an attraction to each other?
I turn to look out at the ocean, hoping that I am done thinking this. Deep down, I know I’m not. I breathe in deeply, using the cuff of my sweatshirt to wipe away any evidence of my fear and anger.
I need answers. I need to know why these decisions were made. With conviction, I walk back to the villa.
* * *
I slam the door shut behind me, and I walk up to the table where Ezra and Nate are still sitting. “Are you implanted? Was my mother implanted?”
Ezra responds, “Yes, and so is every other guardian in our fellowship.”
I lean forward on my elbows, scanning both sides of Ezra’s neck. “Where is your implant?”
Ezra shifts, turning his head to reveal the nape of his neck. “Right here. They’re all implanted there. It’s the closest spot to the central nervous system.” He turns back to us. “I was implanted when Sebastian took me under his wing.”
Ezra shakes his head, almost as if to clear his memory of the pain from the process, but he isn’t fast enough to block me.
Images flash through my mind. The sedative needle…the scalpel slicing through delicate skin at the base of his neck…the stream of blood releasing…the implantation of the device—the Copula—which is nearly the size of a half dollar…Ezra opening his eyes to Sebastian hovering over him.
I turn to Nate to see if he saw it, too. By his expression, I know that he has. His mouth forms a thin line, and his arms cross in front of his chest.
I need proof. When could it have happened? I don’t remember any surgeries as a child.
Ezra reads me. “It was done during infancy. Your mother and I…we decided to perform the surgery before you could remember the experience.”
I point to Ezra. “Wait, you just hesitated. There’s something else. What is it?”
Shifting in his seat, Ezra folds his paper. He looks at Nate and me.
Ezra instructs, “I’m going to tell you a story. Do not interrupt me until I am done.”
Then, Ezra begins to tell us that he met with Sebastian in a lucid dream last night.
Chapter 3
Ezra
The sound of birds and the smell of flowers stir me awake, and my eyes flutter open. I’m sitting on a bench in a beautiful garden, and Sebastian is standing over me.
Sebastian says, “Jesca’s abilities are becoming very strong.”
I know my face must show some pain as I remember her mother. “Her abilities are beyond anything I have ever seen…since—”
Sebastian finishes, “Anna Gershon.”
Suddenly, I get a mental picture of Sebastian with a little girl. She looks like Jesca, but I realize it’s Anna. Sebastian is holding her in his arms. Then, he closes his eyes, and they both vanish into thin air.
I open my eyes, looking at Sebastian with a combination of intensity and fear. “Sebastian, what do I not know about Anna?”
My mind starts working a mile a millisecond. I know very few details about Anna’s past. She rarely talked about her childhood or family. She avoided questions about her life when I probed.
I stand and start to pace in front of Sebastian.
Sebastian says, “When Anna was young—ten years old, I believe—Elisabeth and Gabriel Gershon, my sister and brother-in-law, came to my estate in Colorado. They said that Anna had been having paralysis episodes. She also stared off into space, not acknowledging anyone around her, for sometimes as long as an hour. She woke up screaming every night from nightmares.
“The things she said scared the hell out of them. Elisabeth and Gabriel took her to the family doctor. He performed a physical evaluation, and she appeared to be fine. The family doctor sent them to neurological and psychiatric specialists. They said that Anna was suffering from seizures as well as psychotic episodes. The doctors recommended admitting her to a psychiatric institution.
“Elisabeth and Gabriel could do no such thing and immediately drove from Georgia to my estate in Colorado. I listened to them.
“I remembered Elisabeth suffering from these crippling nightmares when she was a child. She’d wake up screaming in the middle of the night. Mom would hush her back to sleep while Elisabeth would remain frozen, limp in my mother’s arms like a rag doll. My parents would excuse her nightmares, brushing them off as a result of an overactive imagination. But they weren’t just nightmares. They were premonitions.
“At my estate in Colorado, I had a highly qualified medical staff on hand. I also kept in contact with my metaphysical coach, Kenji, based out
of Kyoto University in Japan. I asked him to come and observe Anna as soon as possible. I had Elisabeth, Gabriel, and Anna stay with me for a couple of weeks for observations.
“As soon as Kenji arrived, he observed her. Since he’d trained me, he was familiar with the underlying abilities I possessed, and he knew that Anna had inherited many of them.
“Elisabeth told Kenji how she remembered the fear of not being able to move. She said she’d told Mom in secrecy, but we’d been poor, and going to a doctor about such things had been considered a luxury.
“I can only imagine the guilt Elisabeth felt after realizing that what she’d suffered from had been passed on to her little girl.
“Kenji and the medical staff spoke with Elisabeth and Gabriel about Anna’s seizures. The seizures were caused by Anna’s inability to control the mental overload from her metaphysical abilities. She needed training and therapy to show her how to deal with her abilities, but she couldn’t do that without a greater mental capacity.
“Her little mind was not strong enough to know what to do with all of this. It was wreaking havoc on her. We had to try to find a way to increase her mental capacity.”
Sebastian paused, looking at me. Just then, a flashback comes flooding into my mind. I’m holding Jesca on the bookstore floor back in Georgia before her training at the facility. I try to shake the painful memory.
Sebastian sighs. “The Copula was a solution. Of course, Elisabeth and Gabriel were apprehensive at first. They had many questions. The staff and I provided answers and made sure they were comfortable with the benefits and risks. They quickly realized that the best thing for Anna would be to keep her close to Kenji and the medical staff. She would need observation after the implantation and during intense training. They remained in Dobria for ten years, and then they returned to Earth.
“It’s ironic in a way. Anna was the first person we implanted to save her life. Ultimately, she became the one that could stop the Sondian fellowship and save our lives. Until Samson Crest came along.”
I look away from Sebastian, stand, and tuck my hands into the pockets of my pants. “Anna knew Jesca would need the Copula because of the abilities she would one day inherit. We both agreed to implant her for her protection, but Anna knew she had to protect Jesca from the abilities growing within her.”
Sebastian nods, confirming everything I have said.
I blow out my lip, anticipating that Jesca might not forgive me for what I have kept from her about the copula and for what I have just learned from Sebastian about the familial reasons for implantation. I let out a guttural growl of frustration.
Sebastian leans back and closes his eyes, letting the sun warm his face. “Nate will be level-headed about it. Jesca will be mad and frustrated. Your intentions to protect her have always been pure at heart, and she will realize this. Telling young guardians what we are considering here is overwhelming. It provides them with a reason to run, instead of compelling them to stay and fight. We both know that Jesca is different. She will stay and want to understand what is within her. Jesca’s abilities are just beginning to surface.”
Sebastian opens his eyes and looks at me. “The abilities that are innate within her can be held at bay for only so long. Just as Anna did, Jesca will use them to fight for humanity, Ezra.”
I feel the wetness forming around my eyes. My vision blurs from the tears. “Yes, she will fight until the very end, just as Anna did. That is what I’m fearful of. Sam Crest will try to stop Jesca, just as he...stopped Anna. He is a shifter, Sebastian. He used his transfiguration as a dark force when he came for Jesca in Georgia. He will hunt her, and now, Corinna will hunt her as well.”
Sebastian puts his hand on my shoulder. “Whatever it takes, Ezra, we will not let him get a hold of Jesca.”
I watch as Sebastian’s confident smile suddenly fades. Seeing worry in his eyes, I ask, “What? What has happened?”
Sebastian answers, “Balthazar came to me soon after Samson left Miami to flee to Tokyo, Japan.”
My anxiety spikes again, knowing that it isn’t like Balthazar to visit his father. I’m not gentle with my accusatory words. “Why now? After all he has done?”
Sebastian shakes his head. The sunlight glistens in his reddened eyes, and Sebastian blinks, trying to keep the sorrow at bay. “I’m not sure what to believe about my son.”
Chapter 4
Sebastian
The only person I can talk to about this is Ezra.
* * *
“As I stirred from sleep, I was startled to see Balthazar’s silhouette sitting on the chair near my bed. The low full moon of Dobria cast a pale light on him. One side of his being was filled with light, and the other was filled with darkness. I quickly sat up and turned on the lamp next to the bed. I asked him why he had come to me.
“He kept mumbling about how they have made him out to be the devil. I didn’t know what he was talking about. His behavior was not typical of Balthazar. His face was sallow. His eyes were dark and heavy. Overall, his appearance looked tortured. Many things had come between us, but he was still my flesh and blood. Yes, he and his fellowship had put our Earth in the predicament it’s in now. But, he was here! He would have never come to me unless something had gone terribly wrong.
“Balthazar told me that he should not have come to the estate that fateful day years ago during his college break. He said that he shouldn’t have been so damned curious. He wished that he had listened to my words instead of walking out the door with the files detailing the Copula and travel beyond our world.
“I was shocked by my son’s words. I wanted to ask him what had happened, but he started to fade, like an apparition. He began to weep. He kept saying that he trusted the fellowship, and they turned against him. They deceived him and everyone else.”
I look at Ezra and see sadness in his eyes. “I don’t know why I woke. Something interrupted the lucid dream, and his astral projection was unclear. I know he was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t read him. It felt like we were falling in and out of the dream realm.”
Standing, I walk back to the pond. “I’m telling you this, Ezra, because I think this fight against the Sondians is evolving. I know you’ve heard the chatter among the scientists as well. The Sondian fellowship is increasing the number of Copula implantations because something within the Andromeda galaxy is reacting to them.”
I look out into the distant meadow that is lined with cherry blossom trees. “I know Balthazar was trying to tell me something.”
Something terrible has happened. That is the only explanation for him to come to me after all this time.
“You have to understand, Ezra. He would have never come to me unless he had no other choice.”
I look at Ezra and see worry in his eyes. I assume it reflects his concerns for Balthazar and my well-being.
I shake my head. “I’m sorry.”
Ezra replies, “Don’t be. Just please be guarded, Sebastian.”
I clear my throat and change the subject. “You have been briefed on the additional guardian you need to acquire as well as Sam and Corinna’s whereabouts.”
Ezra is taken aback by the shift in conversation. “Uh, yes, I received the intelligence two days ago. I planned to brief Jesca and Nate about leaving to acquire the guardian this morning.” Ezra pauses, hesitating briefly. “Sebastian, I think we need to focus on bringing Alexander Crest on as a guardian before anyone else. After what went down in Miami with Sam taking Corinna, he fled. I need to find him. Have you any information on where he could be? He needs to understand everything about his family and his life.” Ezra rakes his hand through his hair. “I let him get away once, and then Sam took him and corrupted him.”
Ezra sighs deeply. “So much could have been different for Xander. If I had only gotten to him sooner, Xander would not have been warped by Sam Crest.”
I respond, “Well then, I guess it’s a good thing the fellow guardian you need to retrieve is Alexander—Alexander Sera. He�
��s in the Appalachian Mountains. He leased a cabin under an alias—Chris Henson. He remains out of sight, only venturing out for groceries. He has no visitors. I’m not sure if he has visions though. It wouldn’t surprise me if Sam has tried to get back in his good graces. The details of his location will be delivered to your doorstep this morning.”
Ezra nods. “I agree. Thank you, Sebastian.”
The atmosphere around us begins to brighten as I end our dream together. I watch as Ezra closes his eyes tightly, shielding them from the light. I stir from the dream and sigh deeply.
Chapter 5
Jesca
Ezra looks at me, and then he glances at Nate. “I received Xander’s exact location this morning before I came to wake you, Jesca. We leave tomorrow.”
Nate stands abruptly, grabs his bowl, and heads to the kitchen sink. He flippantly turns on the water, rinsing out his bowl.
Ezra reads Nate’s frustration loud and clear. “No matter how much you don’t trust him, Nate, Xander chose to protect Jesca the night Corinna was abducted by Sam. He didn’t help Sam. He knew that it was wrong because he isn’t a Sondian, Nate! He is a Dobrian and your cousin!”
Nate shuts off the water and leans on the countertop for support. “I don’t even know him, Ezra! Where has he been? Why have my parents not talked about him, my aunt, or my uncle before? I just found out less than ten minutes ago that a guy that was supposedly working against us is my cousin!” Nate turns around, rubbing his face in frustration. “I’m sorry if I’m not very open-minded about meeting him again. If you recall, we really didn’t hit it off too well the first time we met.”
He was right. Xander and I followed Sam and Corinna to Club Meridian. We were trying to get to them before Sam could send Corinna through the wormhole to Sonde where she would be implanted with a Sondian Copula. Xander kept me from Sam, but he couldn’t protect Corinna, too. When we got to the club, Ezra and Nate greeted us at the door. Nate immediately became territorial, and he and Xander had words.
Surfacing the Rim (Piercing The Fold) Page 2