by Jessica Gunn
Freedom. Wasn’t that what Trevor had always equated me to, this wild freedom he’d always sought? We’d found it here, in this very room, in this moment, together.
We’ve found it, his thoughts echoed.
The sudden emotion that overcame me, the pure love and freedom and hope, was too much. Tears stung my eyes, but I kept singing, kept holding onto this wild, crazy ecstasy that was keeping us afloat and alive despite the weight of what was to come. The war didn’t matter. Our ancestors didn’t matter. All that existed was Trevor and I and this.
I stopped playing but Trevor kept singing, having too much fun to notice. I rushed him, wrapping my arms around his neck, my guitar sitting between us. I captured his mouth with mine and he reacted in kind, slanting his mouth to deepen the kiss, the two of us part of the same whole. He slipped the guitar over my head and placed it on the floor beside the desk, sliding his arms behind my back to pull me closer. He molded his body against mine, a perfect fit like slipping a key into a lock. I threaded my fingers in the small curls at the base of his neck ran my hands over his shoulders, down his chest to the abs beneath.
Trevor walked me up against a wall and lifted one of my legs around his waist, his lips trailing to my neck and collarbone. Over my scar and to the other side then back up again. Chills waved down my neck and back to below my belly, lost in this heady moment, this molding of our bodies to fit the way our minds were already one. The scent of his aftershave wafted between us and I breathed it in as his warm lips trailed down to my neck again.
How had this random stranger who’d stepped in when Dave had attacked me years ago become someone I loved more than anyone else in this world?
“I love you,” he whispered against my skin. “I always have.”
I pulled back enough to rest my forehead to his, my fingers caressing the side of his face. A sudden urgency filled my veins, willing my mouth to speak the words in case I never had another chance. “I love you too, Trevor. And I’m terrified by that. By all of this. Whatever happens tomorrow, however this all is supposed to end, you are the love of my life. You’re my one, my person, and I—”
He silenced me with a kiss, full of fire, of life.
You’re my person too, he thought. You always will be.
And they can’t take that away from us.
32
Trevor
One hour until go-time on our plan found me sitting with Abby and Valerie in Abby’s small quarters. The dull gray walls were bare, devoid of any of the life from Abby’s room at the facility she’d spent years in. It was like when we were kids and Abby babysat us while our parents were out. Only now, I realized it was probably so they could have some top-secret Lemurian war meeting instead of dinner downtown like we’d all thought. It brought our entire childhood back and put everything that’d happened since those days into ironic perspective.
Here we were, fighting the war our parents always meant for us to fight in almost exactly the capacity they’d wished it. Except we were working with Atlanteans to destroy Atlantis.
“I want to go,” Abby said, jolting me from my thoughts.
Valerie and I exchanged a worried look, but I spoke first. “Why?”
Valerie pursed her lips. “What Trevor means to ask is, are you up for it? It’s going to be a fight, Abby. A big one.”
Abby nodded slowly, though her eyes were defiant. “Sophia has really helped me over the past few months. I want to fight and help where I can. I want to make the Atlanteans pay for what they did to me. Most importantly, I think I’m finally in a place to do it.”
“Please don’t take this the wrong way,” Valerie said, leaning forward to take Abby’s hand. Valerie had always considered Abby the older sister she never had. “Do you have enough control of your abilities to do this?”
“Good point.” I hadn’t had the guts to say it first.
Abby looked at us both with earnest. “Yes. Look.” She held up her palm and produced fire in the middle of it. It danced and soared before breaking into smaller flames that took the shape of fireflies. Abby sent them flying around herself as if surrounded by real ones.
My stomach churned with worry and a fierce need to protect Abby. She was in control, much more than when she’d left SeaSat5 with Sophia. I’d known Sophia was a good teacher, she’d turned Chelsea into the super soldier she was today, but dammit.
It meant Abby could handle her own.
It wasn’t that I’d wanted Abby to stay locked in a room, forever unable to control her abilities. I’d just never wanted her to be involved in this fight. I assumed she’d be sent to Pearl with all the other non-essential personnel and not be in the middle of this.
But how could I argue? SeaSat5 needed every power-abled body they had, and whether or not I liked it… Abby had turned into a powerful Lemurian.
“Besides,” Abby added. “Not to sound like a child or anything, but Trevor’s going and he doesn’t even have powers.”
“That’s different,” I snapped. Was it? I wasn’t a fighter, and I definitely wasn’t any better a shot than the other soldiers joining us.
“Yeah, why is that?” Valerie asked.
I met her eyes and gave her the only answer I came up with. “Because I’ve been working with TAO for the past few years.”
She waved her hand. “No, not that. Powers. Abby’s woke the heck up. I wonder if yours will.”
“I was taken by Atlanteans, remember?” Abby asked. “I assumed I showed signs of having them and never knew.”
“I doubt I’ll develop them. Sometimes Lemurians don’t, right?” I asked and Valerie shrugged. “I’m not worried about it. And I don’t care.”
“I do,” Valerie mumbled. “Abilities are in the family line and most people have something. But you”—she gestured at me, her gaze drifting from head to toe—“nothing.”
“I’ll be fine.” I’d done a good job of forgetting how bad this situation really was until Chelsea kissed me last night. It’d started as a happy-you’re-hilariously-awesome kiss and turned into a desperate goodbye, the both of us clinging to each other, skin-to-skin, in case this ended badly for one of us.
Or both of us.
Valerie pulled something out of her pocket—two doses of the anti-Waterstar-map medicine all rolled up. “I’m worried about the effects of the map.”
Okay, good point. “When we brought SeaSat5 back I nearly collapsed.”
She handed me the medicine joint. “Take all of this right before the time-place transfer. Hopefully it’ll be enough to save you. Honestly, I really don’t think you should be going.”
“I have to. Chelsea is and I’m not leaving her side. I was there in the beginning and I’m seeing this through until the end.”
Valerie rested a hand on my knee. “She’ll understand, Trevor.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. Maybe if I’d told her right away. I’d kept it hidden because I didn’t want it to distract her or make her feel guilty for leaving TAO for TruGates, even if she’d had the right idea about doing so.
No, I’d hidden it for almost a year now and there was no way she’d understand. Chelsea would be pissed, rightfully so, and that was that.
“No, she won’t,” I said.
“I can talk to her if you want.”
I swiped my hand through the air. “End of discussion. I’ll survive this like I did when we rescued SeaSatellite5.”
“Except there will be countless Link Pieces aboard,” Valerie said. “At least a dozen of which are the most powerful we know about. They’re the ones that could allow the Atlanteans or someone with a sour opinion of history to change the world irrevocably forever.”
A black pit formed in my stomach and traveled up to my mouth, leaving a sour taste on my tongue. I swallowed it down. Maybe that was what the Atlanteans wanted all along, to change history.
“I’ll stay as far away from the Bridge as I can,” I said. That was where we’d planned on storing the artifacts throughout the baiting phase of our plan
.
“As the civilian head of Engineering, the creator of Humming Bird, and a senior staff member?” Valerie returned dryly. “Yeah, good luck with that.”
“Stay near me then,” I told her. “If it gets bad, teleport me out.”
Valerie’s gaze flickered sideways. She’d rather stay close to Abby, who was brand new to all of this, not me. I didn’t blame her. “I’ll do what I need to.”
My radio blared to life inside my pocket, causing all of us to jump at the unexpected chirp. I tugged it out. “Boncore.”
“Can you come to the Bridge?” Captain Marks asked. “We’re about ready to go.”
Chelsea, Sophia, and Weyland had spent the morning teleporting over the Link Pieces from the hidden room, and now they’d all been laid out on the Bridge.
“Will do,” I said and shut the radio off. “Well, here goes nothing.”
“We’ll come too,” Abby said as she stood.
Valerie shrugged, standing. “Might as well be there when the party starts.” She sure was dressed for such an occasion, a gun of her own clipped in a holster at her side. Funny, because I doubted she’d ever need one with her powers being as strong as they were.
“Off to win the war, then,” I mumbled as we filed out of my quarters, Abby taking the lead.
Valerie elbowed my side. “Our parents would be proud after all, huh?
I snorted. “Yeah, guess so.”
The Bridge had been turned into a fortress. The blast doors had been barricaded and reinforced once we were all inside. The senior staff took their normal stations and everyone who had any sort of ability, powers or weapons prowess, stood inside. TruGates team, TAO, SeaSat5 staff, it didn’t matter. The war, our only common thread, had pulled us together and now it was time to end it.
I claimed my seat at the head Engineering station with Valerie at my side. It should have been Chelsea, but Valerie refused to leave her spot. Instead, Chelsea took residence at a NANA station like she had two years ago. This whole thing would have been déjà vu if it weren’t for the fact that I had both Major Pike and Josh in my sights from Engineering.
Captain Marks manned the Command Center and cleared his throat. “Everybody listen up. In a few moments, we are going to lower the Humming Bird shield which we think will allow the Atlanteans to get inside and come for the Link Pieces. However, we know they will take the station along with them.
“All non-essential personnel have now been ferried off the station. As soon as we land in the Atlanteans’ time, we will break into groups by teleporters. Ms. McAllister and Ms. Danning will take our strike team out to seek and destroy the Atlas Cache.”
Valerie was able to give herself—and Sophia—Chelsea’s memories of Atlantis, despite how buried they were. By also taking Chelsea’s parents’ memories and implanting them into Chelsea and herself, they could now all teleport to various points around the city as if they had actually been there themselves. It’d been an ingenious move, and thank god Valerie had been able to do it.
“The rest of us will remain here to defend SeaSatellite5 against the Atlanteans. They won’t be too happy to see us,” Captain Marks continued. “And yes, we have a plan for how to Return.” He looked my way.
“They’ll have a crane again,” I filled in. “According to Markus and Alacia, SeaSat5 isn’t the biggest Link Piece in the world. There’s a crane in the facility where they’ll take us that is much like the crane and Link Piece creation system once responsible for storing SeaSat5. Sophia and I will teleport there and use it once again. It’s physically a different crane so it should work.”
Silence overtook the Bridge, echoing the seriousness and paramount pressure of this mission. The same that’d echoed in my head since Chelsea’s parents had explained exactly how screwed we might be if we didn’t succeed.
“Let’s do this,” Chelsea said, interrupting the silence. “We can and we will cripple Atlantis. We need to. For everything they’ve done to us and those we care about, for what they might yet do to the world. It’s now or never. So let’s do this.”
Major Pike stepped forward. “Yes, let’s.”
One hour. We’d all been cooped up on the Bridge as though it were the inside of the infamous Trojan Horse itself. We’d coated the Bridge with the same heat-signature blocking material we’d used on the panic room. They literally wouldn’t see us inside, only the Link Pieces.
We hope, Chelsea thought. Maybe that’s why they haven’t come—
As she said it the station shook, the telltale sign some sort of hell soon to be rained down on us. Everyone jumped to attention and looked up at the ceiling.
“Oh god,” Sophia exclaimed. She shot out her arm to steady herself on a console. “Chelsea.”
Chelsea nodded quickly, also reaching for support. “Yup, I can feel it too.”
I longed to be next to her, to fight alongside her. I would. But this was, admittedly, the most terrifying thing I’d ever done in my entire life—walking right into the belly of the beast of my childhood nightmares. Willingly.
“What’s wrong?” the Captain demanded.
“We’re being moved,” Chelsea answered. “They’re locking on to SeaSat5 within the Waterstar map.”
“We can both see it,” Sophia added.
“Make that three of us,” Weyland chimed in. “This is the weirdest shit that’s ever happened to me.”
“Hang in there,” Chelsea told him. “Don’t let go. In fact, everyone should probably join hands, at the risk of sounding too kumbaya about it.”
“Agreed,” Sophia said, moving to take my hand.
I in turn took Valerie’s and so on and so forth until everyone on the Bridge was connected by that mysterious force that allowed teleporters to take people with them. Sophia and Chelsea anchored the crew, each of them pressing a hand to the station itself like they did other Link Pieces.
Of course. They could see the path SeaSat5 was set to take and follow it too.
“It’s about to happen,” Sophia said. “Everyone hang on tight. Do not let go no matter what happens.”
As she said it the station trembled violently in its upright position. Weyland’s fingers twitched, inching toward the trigger of his weapon. In fact, most of the military officers were doing the same. If they didn’t listen to Sophia’s warning they could be lost in time forever.
Slowly, so slowly, my vision blurred, as if the size of the station prevented it from being easily movable. But it wasn’t. We’d done this twice before.
It was me. My brain. My Waterstar map.
My vision swirled as we traveled through time. Dizziness spun a web around my body and I shifted uneasy on my feet.
“Hang in there,” Valerie whispered, but her voice was so, so far away. “You can do this, Trevor. Did you take the medicine?”
I nodded because I knew I wouldn’t be able to speak.
As soon as the transfer stopped—I assumed it had because Chelsea and Sophia let go of the chain—the wave of Waterstar map effects wore off.
“Son of a bitch,” I cursed under my breath.
Valerie spun me, placing a hand on each shoulder. “How bad?”
“Bad.” I coughed up phlegm and some other liquid. Blood? “Dammit.”
Valerie’s eyes darted across the room. “Maybe I can get Weyland to see you really quick before we—”
I lifted my hands and broke her grip on me. “No. He needs his strength for this fight. I’ll be okay. Let’s get moving.”
I slipped my main pistol out of its holster and readied it as many others did the same, except with much larger weapons. Chelsea had one of the bigger guns slung across her shoulders, but I doubted she’d need it. Clad in all black with her hair tied up she looked every bit the soldier Atlantis had created her to be.
Fear slinked down my spine. Would she snap while we were here, like she’d done in the past? Did I care as long as it was an Atlantean on the other end? Jesus. When had these thoughts become comfortable? I shook my head to clear them as
Chelsea approached me.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
She stood up on her toes and kissed me once; short because of where we were, but thorough enough to get the point across.
“I love you too,” I told her.
“No matter what,” she said.
The words nearly broke me instead of having the intended reassuring effect.
I should have told her. I should have fucking said something about the map. Because every second I was here I could feel the medicine wearing off. The map encroached on my mind, taking over, destroying it.
Screw modesty.
As she turned away I grabbed her shoulders, spun her back around, and kissed her like we were the only people within a thirty-mile radius. If I might not make it out of this alive, at least she’d know that I’d loved her even while I lied to her.
Valerie’s throat clearing broke us apart and I tried to ignore all the looks we received from everyone else in the room. Especially from Josh. I tried to swallow that simultaneously vindicated and guilty feeling as fast as possible.
“Okay,” Captain Marks said. “You have a go, Chelsea, Sophia. Let’s get this done.”
A fierce look overtook Chelsea’s face. “Let’s.”
33
Chelsea
Trevor was hiding something. I could hear it in his thoughts, feel it in his kiss, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it was. There had to be a reason he hadn’t told me, a good one. But now, especially now, wasn’t the time to deal with that. We had a Link Piece cache to destroy.