I wake, heart thumping. It takes me a moment to orientate myself and remember where I am. Being careful not to bang my head on the top bunk, I sit up and swing my legs to the floor. Around me, I hear soft breathing and the occasional snore. My skin prickles and I realise I’m covered in sweat, now cooling in the night air. I flex my hands, finding they still ache a little. The stark image of me straddling Blake floods my mind and I slap a hand over my mouth, clamping down on a groan.
I remember Eckhart’s warning about signs that I might have locked my talents with Blake. The realisation it might be true horrifies me. Helios is offering me the keys to my destiny and there’s no way I’m going to flush it away because of something as ridiculous as a lock. I’ll do whatever it takes to break it.
Lying back down with a sigh, I try to relax. There’s nothing I can do about it now, in the middle of the night. But sleep evades me and I just lie there for hours, staring at the bottom of the top bunk and feeling desperately homesick.
By the time morning breaks, I’ve dozed off a few times, but not nearly enough to feel refreshed. A shower helps and I stay in a little longer, washing my hair with more vigour than normal. When I’m done, I braid my hair back and dress in my Helios uniform before heading to the canteen. I’m early, so the place is quiet. I grab a coffee and find a deserted courtyard outside, where I pull my Helios slate out and call Bobby, calculating it would be around mid-afternoon back home.
‘How you doing, kiddo?’ His face fills the screen and a lurch of homesickness sweeps over me. ‘You shouldn’t waste time talking to me. Don’t you have classes to get to?’
‘Soon, but I’ve got a moment,’ I say, talking around the lump in my throat. ‘How are you doing?’
‘Things are just fine,’ Bobby tells me. ‘Shop’s doing well. If I think I can’t handle things here, I’ll hire someone to help out. Don’t you worry about a thing. You need some money?’
‘No, no.’ I lie automatically, knowing Bobby doesn’t have the funds to send me anything. ‘I’m fine.’ I debate whether to tell him about the invitation to the Executive Committee’s fundraiser and ask why he thinks I was invited, but decide against it. I’m not sure I can even go at this point, unless Cora can lend me an outfit. We chat for a bit longer, then say our goodbyes and wish each other luck for the day. There’s no ‘I love you’. That’s not Bobby’s style, or mine. But I know he does, and that’s enough.
The rest of the day drags and when I see Cora between classes, she tells me we’re hitting the stores tonight to search for a dress. When I try to fob her off, she steamrolls my objections and I relent, figuring I’ll just think of a reason not to buy anything when we’re there. My second-last class is combat, then I have a free period, while Cora has a slider tutorial. She arranges for me to meet her after.
I nearly fall asleep in meditation and by the time combat comes around, my feet are dragging. Fortunately, Velasco doesn’t seem too interested in having Jasmine beat me up again and we spend the session running and doing basic defence exercises. Velasco loses his temper when I fail to finish twenty push-ups.
‘Not good enough.’ He crouches down beside me as I lie on the ground, panting, arms burning. ‘You’d better improve and real fast, cadet.’
At the end of the class, I’m shattered. We shower and change, then Cora heads off to her slider class while I limp back to the dorm.
I’ve got at least an hour to rest and I collapse on my bed, trying to relax. I know I need to tell someone about the dream with Blake, but the intimate nature of it stops me from saying anything yet. Wendell is the only person who I think I can confess to. But I can’t face the conversation. Not yet.
CHAPTER 15
When I get to Cora’s classroom, I hear shouting from behind the closed door. I hesitate, wondering what to do, but when I hear a loud sob, I barrel into the room. Inside, Blake is yelling at Cora. Tears stream down her cheeks, which only seems to frustrate Blake even more. I can’t help but notice he’s wearing a singlet, showing off the ink on his well-cut arms, every inch covered in swirls of dark sapphire water and burnt orange koi fish.
‘—lack of focus is lack of discipline,’ he shouts. ‘You risk more than your own life if you fall off a lightpath. People would come to retrieve you and then you put their life at risk. Do you understand?’
‘Hey!’ I hurry over, then hesitate when Blake’s narrowed eyes swing to me. Remembering the rule about not using your talent on others at the academy, I clamp down on mine, which are already rattling the lid of the puzzle-chest. But to my shock, the lid flies open and my TP shoots out, bounding towards Blake like a happy puppy. I bite down hard on my lip and the pain gives me enough focus to leash it.
‘It’s okay, Josie.’ Cora’s voice wobbles. ‘I made a mistake. It’s my fault. I could have really hurt someone.’
‘Uh … well.’ I suddenly realise how stupid it is for a newbie cadet to try and swing her weight around. My eyes bounce around the room as I try to get my bearings, taking in the racks of mounted brown nanosuits and a wall lined with closed doors, dark keypads sitting beside each one. Looking back at Blake, I struggle to think of a way to explain why I’d barged in.
He gives Cora a disgusted look. ‘Get out of my sight. Just go.’
We both turn to leave, but Blake says to me, ‘Josie, you stay. I want to talk to you.’
‘She’s not involved in this.’ Cora’s bottom lip quivers.
‘I told you to go, Cora.’ Blake isn’t yelling, but there’s steel in his voice that makes her wince.
‘You can’t get mad at Josie,’ she whispers. ‘She didn’t do anything.’
‘That’s right. I didn’t do anything wrong,’ I say.
Blake’s eyes shadow as he levels a flat gaze my way. ‘I told you to stay.’
There’s something heated in his look and it sends all the wrong kinds of messages to my lady bits and a delicious anticipation curls through me like wood smoke. Eckhart’s little chat is still very clear in my memory, and I’m suddenly very worried about being left alone with Blake. I grab Cora’s hand. ‘Forget it.’
‘Josie.’ Blake’s voice holds a warning.
‘You’re not the boss of me,’ I say, channelling the six-year-old in me, then pull Cora out of the room and hustle us back to the dorms. Cora is trying to keep it together, but I know it’s only a matter of time before she loses it. When we reach her room, the door safely shut behind us, Cora collapses on her bed and puts her head in her hands. ‘I’m in so much trouble.’
‘Calm down.’ I sit beside her on the bed. ‘Take deep breaths.’
Cora’s shoulders shake as she starts crying. ‘You don’t understand. You don’t know what I did.’
‘What could have been so bad?’ I ask gently. ‘Why was Blake yelling at you?’
Cora manages to speak between sobs. ‘We went into the slipstream, but I got disorientated and almost lost the other cadets.’
‘But you didn’t, right?’ I try to sound practical and calm while I pat her on the back. ‘You pulled it together.’
‘Blake found me.’ Cora cries harder. ‘I don’t know how it happened. I just can’t concentrate when I’m there. My head hurts so much and I panic.’
A pang of sympathy echoes through me and I grasp her hand, holding it tight. This gesture breaks the floodgates and Cora throws herself on my shoulder, alternating between sobbing and confessing that Blake threatened to recommend her expulsion from Helios. By the time she’s finished, Cora’s voice is hoarse and the room has grown dark. I dim the lights and help her into bed. Her eyes are swollen and she looks dejected.
‘How about we just watch a movie tonight?’ I suggest. ‘I know an old movie you might like about space marines fighting aliens. Lots of hot guys in uniform. Darsh could bring us snacks.’
‘What about shopping for your dress?’ Cora asks sleepily.
‘I’ve got ages to find one,’ I assure her. ‘I bet you’ve got something nice I could wear.’
Cora
gives me a wan smile. Switching on the wide screen embedded into her wall, I load up a movie for us, then message Darsh on my slate, asking if he’ll bring us snacks. Half an hour later, Cora’s fast asleep and the space marines are inspecting the remains of a deserted colony shelter. There’s a knock at the door and I open it to see Darsh holding a pizza box and a six pack of beer.
‘Essential sustenance as commanded,’ he announces, then stops, eyes dropping to Cora’s still form. I take the pizza and put it on the tiny study desk, making shushing sounds.
‘Let her sleep,’ I say. ‘She needs it.’
Darsh hands me the six pack and sits down on the floor beside the bed. ‘What happened?’
‘She made a mistake in her tutorial, and Blake Galloway happened.’ I open a beer and pass it to him. I’m not much of a drinker, but these are cold and expensive looking, so I grab one for myself and settle on the ground with my back braced against the wall. We’re quiet for a time, sipping beer, eating pizza and watching the movie with the volume low. Darsh offers me a second beer and I take it, knowing I don’t have classes tomorrow morning.
‘I did some searching for you.’ Darsh pauses to glance at Cora, who is snoring gently from under her covers. ‘About your parents and their time here at Helios.’
I take a swig of beer, enjoying the smooth, cold liquid. The alcohol is helping me feel pretty damned relaxed and the idea that Blake wants to talk to me about something isn’t sending my nerves into spasms of worry anymore.
‘Did you find out anything about what they worked on?’ I ask.
‘Most of their projects were at a high level of security, so I couldn’t get many details. But they all centred around the shadow biosphere and how to access it.’
‘Why would anyone, other than a slider, want to do that?’ I ask.
‘Are you serious?’ Darsh says. ‘There are corporations who would pay a fortune to have access to the shadow biosphere to study. After all, we’re talking about the dimension responsible for creating talents.’
Debating one last slice of pizza, I ask, ‘Did you find out anything else?’
‘Most of their work revolved around one project called the Ciliary Gate. I’m guessing it was a device of some sort, built to try and access the biosphere.’ Darsh shrugs a bony shoulder. ‘I couldn’t find out much beyond that. Just that the project got shut down and everything was shoved into one of the archive sub-levels under Central.’
‘Are you sure?’ I try not to sound frustrated. ‘Can you look again?’
‘What exactly are you trying to find out, anyway?’ Darsh asks.
‘Anything and everything,’ I say softly. ‘I want to know why my parents left. They had fantastic careers, with a bright future. I need to know why they bailed.’
Darsh sighs and opens another beer. ‘If it’s that important to you, I’ll keep digging.’
Cora’s still snoring softly by the time the movie finishes, so Darsh and I decide to leave. I’ve had three beers and my head spins when I stand. Darsh takes the empties and the pizza box with him and I wave off his offers to escort me back to my dorm.
Darsh looks unsure, then shrugs before heading down the corridor in the opposite direction. I’ve drunk enough that I’m feeling bold, so I decide to find out what Blake wanted to talk to me about. I also want to know if that dream was the result of out of control hormones, or an indication of something more serious.
I beckon my TP and it wobbles out, sluggish from the alcohol. I think of Blake, outline his face in my mind’s eye, and my TP spreads out, searching. Exiting the residential building, I follow the pull of my talent towards a mystery destination as it hunts for Blake. Leaving the footpath, I meander along across the grass until I come across a low-set, featureless building with no windows. Approaching it, I realise my talents have led me to Blake on a direct vector, as if it’s always known where he was. Shoving this uncomfortable thought aside, I slip inside the building. There’s a wide corridor with rooms lining one side. A quick glance into one of the rooms reveals equipment half covered by tarps. Figuring I’m in some sort of utility area, I keep going, trusting my TP and wondering why Blake would be here.
Dull thumping sounds draw me to a room at the end of the corridor. The door is closed and I knock sharply on it. The thumping noise stops and the door jerks open. Blake wears low-slung cotton trousers and his naked torso is outlined by a soft light behind him. Beyond his shoulder, a punching bag swings beside a bed with crumpled linen.
‘What?’ he barks. When he recognises me, his face falls into a scowl. ‘How did you find me?’
My ability to speak evaporates at the sight of his bare chest. The bright tattoos on his arms coil up around his pectorals; a snarling tiger sits left of his stomach. Opposite the tiger is a scroll of text, but I can’t quite make out what it says. I swallow a few times and desperately try to kick-start my brain.
‘You wanted to talk to me?’ I don’t answer how I found him, thinking he probably wouldn’t like the idea of my TP hunting him down.
Blake arches an eyebrow. He smells sweaty, but there’s a hint of soap there as well. I try to shove the lingering memory of last night’s dream from my thoughts, but this doesn’t work as well as I’d like. The memory of him beneath me, the feel of his hands gripping my hips is almost as intoxicating as the beers.
He steps back, opening the door wider. ‘Get inside. Last thing I need is someone seeing you here and telling Eckhart about it.’
Without thinking too much about what I’m doing, I duck inside his room. Blake shuts the door behind me and begins to unravel well-worn bindings from around his knuckles. ‘I’d offer you a drink, but from the beer on your breath I’d say you’ve had enough.’
‘I had one beer,’ I lie. ‘And I’m not drunk.’
‘No.’ One corner of Blake’s mouth quirks up. ‘You’re a lone wolf, just like your uncle, right?’
‘That’s right. And you wanted to see this particular lone wolf, so here I am.’ I look around his room, wrinkling my nose. ‘Why do you stay here? Why aren’t you in the faculty residences?’
Blake’s eyelids lower a fraction. ‘That’s my business.’
‘Fine.’ I fold my arms and give him a haughty look. ‘How about you tell me why you were being so awful to Cora? She’s my friend so making her cry is my business.’
Blake taps his chin, pretending he’s thinking about it. Then he shakes his head. ‘Nope. That’s not your business either. Cora is my student and my responsibility. Not yours.’
‘You were scaring her. That’s not nice.’
‘I’m not there to be nice, just to make sure she survives.’ He takes a step towards me and I instinctively shift back. He tilts his head now, staring at me like I’m a curiosity. ‘Why are you sticking up for Cora? You don’t even know her.’
‘I’m new here,’ I say. ‘She’s one of the few people who’ve been nice to me.’
Blake gives a snort and throws his bindings in a basket by the door. ‘Cora almost got lost on a slide. Do you have any idea how bad that is? She could have shot off the lightpath completely. Something that would see her instantly expelled, if she’d managed to survive.’
‘Right. Sure. But are you going to get her in trouble?’
Anger ripples across Blake’s face and I wonder if I’ve pushed him too far. My stomach rolls, reminding me it’s full of pizza and it could barf on Blake in an emergency. I realise now might be a good time to leave. ‘I should go. This was a bad idea.’
My hands reach for the door, but then Blake grabs one of my wrists. He steps towards me as I manage to pull free from his grip, but I refuse to give ground. Heat radiates off him and his scent is disorientating, sending my body into some strange meltdown. My heart is in my throat, and I’m tingling all over. I start to regret my rashness, brought on by Darsh’s fancy-pants beer. I try for a cross face, as if I wasn’t wildly attracted to his sweaty man smell. Maybe I won’t leave. Not just yet. Maybe I’ll stay until Blake decides he needs
a shower. And someone to wash his back.
‘Is that the real reason you came to find me, so late in the night?’ he murmurs. ‘To see what I wanted to talk to you about?’
I sidestep around him. He lets me go, though his eyes follow me as I tactfully retreat across the room, pausing by his punching bag. ‘That about sums it up. Then there was the whole defending Cora thing.’
‘And if I say I will be recommending she be dropped from the cadet program?’ Blake’s voice is silky. I realise he’s playing with me and wonder if this is what he does with those he can’t scare: cranks the charm up. It’s got rough edges, but it’s definitely there, ready for deployment.
‘Then I’d start calling you dirty names, for starters,’ I say.
‘What kind of dirty names?’
‘The worst kind.’
‘Tell me one.’
Realising I’m staring at his chest, I drag my eyes up and command my brain to focus. ‘I’ll think some up. In the meantime, you know how unfair you’re being, right?’
‘Unfair?’ The teasing expression drops from Blake’s face and he picks up a shirt from the floor. ‘Cora’s fear is a liability.’ The shirt goes on and I try to pretend I’m not disappointed. I half-heartedly smack the punching bag, setting it swinging.
‘Then maybe she’s not right for a leadership role,’ I suggest. ‘Why does she have to slide anyway, if she hates it so much?’
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