Nova Unchained

by D. N. Hoxa

  My appetite lost, even though I hadn’t even had breakfast, I couldn’t wait to get to the old training room and be by myself. But then, as I crossed the bridge, ignoring yet another pair of guards who watched me like they had no idea what to make of me, I realized that I now had nobody to train with. Nash wasn’t going to be there to attack me and make me defend myself.

  Shit. I stopped in the middle of the bridge that led to the other side of the building, now full of sensors and cameras all over the ceiling, which I also successfully ignored. I was screwed. I was so fucking screwed, I could hear myself screaming. I was…

  I was above two brand new training halls that had virtual soldiers in them. Lightbulb!

  But wait…the others were also in there. On the training hall to my left, there were two strangers I’d never met before, and on the one to my right the one across from Ross’s office, Pixie, Aiden, Lucian and Kitty were all training together. My stomach turned at the sight of them, of the people that I wanted to fight with so badly. I wanted to fight with them, but I was also scared shitless to even go and train in the same place as they were training.

  Laugh worthy. Give me a fucking medal.

  With a renewed conviction, which basically just hid my fear better, I strode down the bridge and to the elevator, chanting to myself: I will not be a coward, I will not be a coward, I will not be a coward.

  They were the ones who had a problem with me—not the other way around. If they didn’t want to see me, they could go to the old training room. Or better yet, they could all go screw themselves.

  When the elevator doors opened, I walked straight to the scanner, hoping that Ross or Terrin or anyone at all had given me access to the hall. I put my hand on the glass and held my breath.

  Half a second later, the door kind of cut itself on the glass, and it slid right open. It felt like a small victory to just be able to step inside the training room, and without even looking at the others, I walked right over to the last panel on the wall. If they had something to say—

  “Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Pixie called from behind me. I was just about to press my hand to the panel, but I stopped. If I didn’t deal with them now, they’d just make my life a living hell. Since I only had two days left to train, it wasn’t even a choice.

  With a deep breath, I gathered my wits and turned around to face them.

  Pixie and Lucian had gotten closer to me while Aiden and Kitty stayed back and just watched me.

  “I’m training,” I said to Pixie. I tried to put as much anger into my voice as I could, but she didn’t seem to give a fuck.

  “Did you hit your pretty head somewhere?” Lucian asked, smiling like he owned the damn place. “You can’t train here. We train here.”

  I was never good at confrontation, but since my whole life, world, universe had changed completely, I was discovering a new side of myself I’d never even thought about.

  And this new side of me smiled like things could not have been better.

  “So, stop me.”

  The words left my mouth even before my brain realized their meaning. I was just as surprised as the rest of them, but I didn’t let it show on my face.

  “A freak like you has no place down here,” Pixie hissed. “I will not stand in the same place as—”

  “Then go! Nobody’s stopping you, and I assure you, you’d be doing me a favor, too. I get that you’re scared of me, but you’re going to have to suck it up and—”

  “Scared of you?” she called and laughed, but it was so fake, it hurt all of our ears. Everybody could tell, too. The only reason I used the words “scared of me” was to piss her off, hoping she’d flip and get the hell out of there. But now that she was laughing like a lunatic…maybe I wasn’t so far off. “Keep talking and I’ll cut your tongue off.” With her katana raised, she started to walk over to me. I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t scared to death—the girl could literally fly for seconds at a time—but when Lucian put his arm in front of her shoulders to stop her, I didn’t let them see my relief.

  “It’s not worth it, Pixie. Let her do her thing. We’ll do ours,” he said. Now that was more like it.

  “You should listen to your boyfriend. You act like I’m not here, and I’ll gladly do the same,” I said, raising my chin as if the way her katana’s blade sparked didn’t make me sweat.

  Clenching her teeth, Pixie took a step back.

  “He is not my boyfriend,” she hissed, and with a disgusted look my way, she turned around and left the training room.

  I wanted to feel bad about it, I really did, but in the end, as I watched Lucian walk backward, away from me, all I felt was relief. I needed this just as much as they did, if not more. Luke was in that room, slowly dying, and if I didn’t do something soon, he was never going to wake up. They could all hate my guts as much as they wanted. Giving up wasn’t an option for me, not yet.

  I just hoped that, very soon, neither of us would ever have to see each other again.

  ***

  What’s worse than getting your ass handed over to you by a couple of virtual soldiers?

  I couldn’t tell you if I tried, but by the time I allowed myself a break, and dragged my feet back to my room, bloody, bruised and nearly starving, I felt utterly defeated. Going to see Luke after a shower had been the plan, but after the freckled guy brought me lunch—how the hell did he even know I was in the room?—the bed just looked so inviting. Add the shame I felt for not being able to hold my own against a freaking computer, and I lay down without too much thought.

  I was just going to rest for a few minutes.

  Instead, I woke up at three am.

  Drenched in panic, as if the end of the world was coming, I quickly got dressed and practically ran down to the training room, having the feeling that I’d missed something.

  But there was no one there.

  The cameras at every corner of the hallways moved with every step I took. I tried the scanner, half hoping that it would let me in.

  It did.

  The training room was dark, only a few blue lights coming from the top of the wall panels. It felt so strange to be there all alone, not a single sound reaching my ears. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath to calm my racing heart. Nothing was going on. There was no need for panic—not yet anyway. In fact, this was a good thing. Having the training room all to myself meant being able to focus on my body without wondering who was watching me—except the cameras.

  Yes, this was exactly what I needed. Without wasting more time, I walked over to the last wall panel, and I called forth two virtual soldiers. In the dark, I could see them much better, because they were made of light. Maybe that was going to be a game changer for me. I found out soon when I took my position, and the soldiers began their attack.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  You guessed it: seeing the virtual soldiers better was not a game changer for me.

  Yep, I was still as clumsy as they come, except bloodier, and with much more bruised skin. I had no idea what time it was when I fell to the floor in an attempt to dodge a soldier’s fist. I did dodge it, except I couldn’t keep my balance and my head still hit the floor hard.

  When the lights went on in the training room, I knew it was only a matter of time before the rest of the people came in. It must have already been seven, and today, I was not going to skip breakfast. The plan was to go to my room, eat and shower, then come back to my friends.

  But before I could do that, the door opened and Terrin walked in.

  It was nice to see a familiar face, one that didn’t look like it wanted me dead. One that didn’t want to use me without my knowledge. But the closer he got, the more I noticed the paleness of his skin and the blue bags under his eyes. He didn’t even smile like he used to.

  “Morning, Nova.” He tried to sound cheerful, but it definitely didn’t work.

  “Morning. What’s up?” I said, already anxious to know what had put that look on his face, because I h
ad a feeling I wasn’t going to like it. Not at all.

  “We had a meeting with the Senior Order last night. Things have changed,” Terrin said in a rush.

  “What things?” I said, my heart already in my throat. A fine layer of sweat covered my forehead, and it had nothing to do with getting beaten by virtual soldiers.

  “They didn’t say much, but Ross believes they are suspecting something. They’re sending over an inspection team.” He didn’t need to tell me that that was a bad thing. His face said it all. “Nova, we need you to tell us where that devamp is, right now. By tomorrow, it’s going to be too late. They can even shut down the station if we don’t deliver something for them.”

  “Ross said I had a week,” I whispered, unable to even breathe properly anymore.

  “I know, but we’ve run out of time. Please, Nova. This is the only way we’re going to get them off our backs.”

  Goddamn it. My heart broke just looking at him. Looking at him and knowing that that expression on his face was about to get a whole lot worse. Biting my tongue, I kept from speaking, at least until I had a general idea of what words I was going to use to tell him the truth.

  “Nova?” Terrin said and took a step closer to. I refused to meet his eyes, but that didn’t help nearly as much as I hoped it would. I still felt shittier by the second. “Look, I can talk Ross into taking you with us. You already know the risks, so it’s not like you won’t know what to expect. If you want to be there, great. But you have to tell me where they are, right now. Before it’s too late.”

  Grab a knife and stab my heart until it stops beating.

  “I don’t know.”

  My voice was so low, I wasn’t even sure Terrin heard me.

  “Excuse me?” It looked like he did.

  “I’m sorry, Terrin. I lied. I have no idea where the devamp is.” Each word scratched my throat coming out. Despite my whole body’s protest, I met Terrin’s eyes. They were wide and full of disappointment. And anger. Lots of anger in there, too.

  “Are you fucking with me?” he asked halfheartedly.

  Lying had been a huge mistake. Who knew? And no amount of reasoning with myself made me feel better. Yes, I’d wanted this, and yes it was the only way I knew of how to save Luke, but that didn’t give me the right to fuck up everything for the rest of the people involved in this.

  Now, it was too late.

  “I wish,” I said with a sigh. “I really am sorry. If I hadn’t lied, Ross would have never let me take the procedure. I wouldn’t have even been here now.” And no matter how I felt, Luke was the most important thing for me right now.

  “You don’t know where he is,” he whispered, shaking his head as if he were trying to convince himself that that was the truth.

  “I don’t know where he is.”

  Grabbing his head in his hands, Terrin looked down at his feet and didn’t blink for the longest time. I had no idea what else to do except stand there and look at him, my heart almost beating out of my chest. My brain searched for ways out of this—especially since this could very well be something over which they’d kick me out altogether—but I came up empty handed.

  “I do.”

  The voice made both Terrin and me jump back. When I saw Nash standing by the door, it was like my Get Really Angry button was suddenly pushed by an invisible hand. He walked over to us with his head high, looking at me as if we were fucking buddies. And the worst part was, I’d actually missed seeing the asshole.

  “You do what?” Terrin asked, but all I could think about was how to hit him fast enough so that Nash wouldn’t even see it coming.

  “I know where a devamp is. I’m not sure if it’s the one Nova saw, but I know where one is.” It was obvious that it pained Nash to say those words, but for some reason, he gritted his teeth and continued. “You have to tell Ross that this is intel from Nova, and she has to be there for it, too. If you can do that, I can give you the coordinates and we can leave as soon as we’re ready.”

  Holy fuck, my jaw touched the floor. Was this guy for real?

  “I got fooled about this once already, Nash,” Terrin said, squinting his eyes at him. “I’m not about to get fooled twice.”

  “You won’t,” Nash said without missing a beat. “You have my word.”

  Oh, shit. What if Terrin was right to doubt? What if Nash was lying, too?

  “Nash, I swear to God, if you are—” Terrin started, shaking his head and waving his hands like he wanted his whole body to speak, too, but Nash cut him off.

  “I’m not lying, Terrin. It’s the truth. I suggest you go talk to Ross right now, or we’ll be late.”

  With his mouth wide open Terrin turned to look at me. I couldn’t even give him a smile, but he didn’t wait for a word, either. Nodding his head while his mind worked whatever plan he had in detail, he strode for the door.

  I followed. “Nova, wait.”

  Nash’s hand was on my shoulder, and despite my better judgment, I stopped walking.

  “I don’t want to hear it.” But maybe I did. Just a little. Why else would I have stopped?

  Besides, he just saved my ass when I thought nothing possibly could.

  “I really am sorry for lying to you. I had no idea if you would be up for it, and I couldn’t risk letting Clearwater get away,” he whispered, then stepped in front of me. Instead of looking at his face, I held my eyes on his chest and the dark red shirt he was wearing. It suited him. “Look, he was the only one who had information about the devamp that killed my family. He works for them, and I’ve known this for years, but I could never get him to talk to me, until yesterday.”

  Holy shit. “He told you?” I whispered, unsure of whether to be glad he found out about the devamp who killed his family, or to panic because that could very well not be Red Tie.

  “He told me about one of them. He claimed he had no idea where the rest are, but if I can find one, I can use him to find the others, right?” A sad smile touched his lips. He was right. The same went for me: if this devamp wasn’t Red Tie, he was going to lead us to him—and to the one who killed Nash’s family.

  “I was afraid you were lying, too,” I mumbled and took a step back. Just because he’d practically saved my ass, didn’t mean that I wasn’t still mad at him.

  “I’m not. And Clearwater is alive, by the way. You didn’t kill him.”

  A sigh escaped my lips before I even realized it. “That’s weird. The devamps servants died on the spot.”

  “I think because they were using deadly spells against you, but Clearwater was only looking to knock us out,” Nash said. “I’m becoming a pro at this, aren’t I?” he tried to joke.

  Pulling my lips inside my mouth to keep from laughing, I nodded. “Makes sense, I guess. And thank you for insisting I come with.” Though that could very well mean my death. I was willing to take that chance. For Luke.

  “My pleasure,” Nash said. “But Nova? You’re not ready to fight against them.”

  Ah, the ugly truth. “I know.”

  “Which is why I’m going to need you to stick by me every second.”

  “I’m not as helpless as you think I am.” I had killed those devamp servants, hadn’t I? And he’d needed good ole me to get Clearwater to talk.

  “Trust me, I don’t think you’re helpless. I just want you in one piece when this is over,” Nash said, smiling like he expected me to forget all about what had happened, kiss and make up.

  Not that the idea of kissing him didn’t intrigue me—very much—but I was always a stubborn thing. Just ask Luke. He’ll tell you all about it.

  “Let’s go see how pissed off Ross can get.”

  ***

  The answer? Very.

  When we walked into the large office where only two people remained, you could tell by the looks on their faces that something was going on, something that scared them. That something was Ross, shouting at Terrin so loudly, you could hear his voice from all the way to the hallway. Biting my tongue, I walked with my h
ead down until we reached his glass box office. When I pulled the door open, the strength of his voice almost blew me out again.

  “You!” he shouted, pointing his finger at me, his eyes red with anger. I swallowed hard and tried to look unimpressed, but my heart hammered inside my chest and my palms were already sweating.

  Terrin had his head down, his fingers pinching his nose. That wasn’t a good sign, either.

  “This is all your fault. Both of you!” Ross shouted, pointing both at Terrin and at me. “What the hell did you think was going to happen? They were just going to let it go and pretend everything’s peachy?”

  Oh, oh. Not good at all.

  “What happened?” I asked with half a voice, the need to look tough gone out the window.

  “The Order is what happened,” Ross hissed. “They know.”

  It was like someone cut the strings that were holding my body upright. I barely managed to take a step toward the nearest chair, and fall in it, very ungracefully.

  “How do they know?” Nash asked. “What do they know?”

  I had a feeling he was thinking the same thing I was thinking. Last morning, when we were in the woods, “training” my magic, someone saw us. Someone ran away. That someone could have very well been from the Senior Order of Magic.

  “About her,” Ross hissed, and he, too, fell in his chair, breathing heavily, completely exhausted. “They’ve seen the footage. They’re requesting information.” He put his hands on his face for a second, before he looked at me. In his eyes, I saw a defeated man, one ready to give up. “Do you know what that means, Nova Vaughn? It means that if I don’t tell them the truth within the next ten minutes, they’re going to be here, and this place will be gone. Just like that!”

  “You need to calm down, Ross,” Terrin said reluctantly.

  “Calm down? How the hell can you tell me to calm down? This is my life’s work here, and I’m flushing the toilet on it as we speak!” Guilt made a mess of my mind for a second, but I reminded myself why I was doing all of this, why I was even here. Lately, I needed that reminder more and more often.