I throw the towel back at him and he catches it, tossing it over one shoulder than smiles. “You think this is funny?”
My comment makes him chuckle. Actually chuckle!
He shakes his head and looks up at nothing in particular. “No, this isn’t, but you are. Your sense of humor is, is—”
“Is what?” I ask, begging him to spit it out.
He looks back down at me, having grasped the thought he was going for. “Your sense of humor is insanely perfect for a guardian.”
I get up to my feet, my clothes clinging to me as the water drips down my body. I start to walk away when Ezra asks, “Where are you going?”
I turn to him, put out by his questions. “We’re done. I did your stupid under water training!”
He shakes his head. “No, you almost did it. Get back in the water.”
Son of a—
After another ten times in the pool with the tubing and surfacing like I should have the first time, standing in a steaming, hot shower of relief is all I want. I feel my body melt a little as I lean my body against the shower wall letting the water wash over me. Ezra’s infamous pounding knock snaps me out of my brief Zen.
“Be right out!” I lean my head back against the wall again to let the water hit my face.
Ezra pounds again before saying, “I’ll come in there.”
I shut the water off and reach for the towel to cover myself quickly. “All right! All right! I’m out! Shit!”
Lunch is superior to any other I’ve had in months—Chicken Piccatta with angel hair pasta in a creamy lemon sauce and capers. Angela smiles as she chews her food. “You look like Ezra is putting you through hell.”
I point my fork toward the exit to the cafeteria. “The pool of hell to be exact.”
Her smile quickly fades as she realizes her fate of pool training in this afternoon’s session. She shreds her dinner roll and stuffs a piece into her mouth. My table manners are thrown to the wind as I shovel pasta and chicken into my mouth. Nick adds his commentary to my display of consuming food “Yo, look at Jesca! She can really pack it in!”
I should be self-conscious. That would be the lady-like thing to feel, but I’m just not into it after the grueling morning of training. Nate smiles in my direction then goes back to eating. As soon as I swallow in the last bite of lunch, Siobhan is giving us our afternoon training locations.
The rest of the day was just as rigorous as the morning session. While Angela and Nate’s was the physical circuit training, mine and Nick’s were mental. Ezra took inventory of my abilities while I was showering and eating lunch—he telepathy, compulsion—Ushering, the life force thing, and blocking thoughts. Ezra looks down at his notes and blows out his lower lip. “I’ve a lot to work with here.”
I half-curtsey. “I’m glad I could oblige.”
Ezra looks up from his paper. “You haven’t obliged me yet.”
CHAPTER 11: THE POWERS THAT BE
Jesca
The first week is filled with sore and stiff limbs. I’m drained by 7 p.m. every night, and not ready to rise daily at 5:00 a.m. The second week is much easier since our bodies are becoming accustomed to the physical and mental training. Nate, Angela, Nick and I have returned to hanging out in the recreation room after dinner now that the exhaustion is starting to pass.
The body aches and sore muscles stop altogether in the third week. The abilities that each of us possess are getting so much stronger. Now well into our training routine, our delusions of being kingpins in the facility become too reckless for our mentors to accept.
We enter the main gym after breakfast, pushing each other’s buttons about the resulting win from last night’s pool tournament we played. All the mentors make it obvious that they’ve been waiting on us.
Sitting on the bleachers, Jake looks up at us. “You guys are late!
Ezra’s standing stoically, as usual, with his arms crossed. We all stop laughing and stop in front of them. Nick starts to snicker, like he’s going to mouth off something to lighten the mood. Anticipating Nick’s quick wit, Jake walks up to him and shuts him down. “Don’t you even start your shit this morning!”
“Start what? All I was going to say was that Jesca schooled Nate last night in the tournament. Made him her bitch!”
Nick glances down the line of the four of us, to mock Nate. I shake my head, knowing that Nick pushing Jake right now isn’t smart. It hasn’t stopped him since we’ve been here, I give him that. Nate lowers his head to hide his laugh. “Not cool man. Not cool.”
Both of them hiding their laughs are too contagious—Ang and I start in.
Ezra yells, “Enough!”
Nate tries to bring logic to the situation. “C’mon. We’ve been working so hard. Being ten minutes late and laughing a little isn’t the end of the world.”
Ezra suddenly paints on a smile as he steps in front of Nate. “On the contrary, that’s the very thing on the line here.”
Siobhan walks up to stand next to Ezra, glaring at each of us. “You really don’t comprehend this, do you?”
She slowly walks along the line of the four of us, her steel blue eyes searing each of us. She stops in front of Ang. Out of the corner of my eye; I see Ang looking everywhere but at her; fear in her eyes. I can hear her thoughts. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Siobhan steps closer to Ang until they’re nose to nose. I can’t read Siobhan’s thoughts. She’s blocked me. Ang continues to feed me what she’s thinking. “No, I won’t. I’m not. I do take this seriously. I’ll prove it in two weeks. The hell you will!
I can’t help her without being able to hear both sides of the conversation and only hearing one is confusing yet I’m worried for her as Siobhan hovers over her. The vibration I’ve kept at bay being here for the past three weeks suddenly flutters within me. I’m in the facility. Ezra said I was safe. Why am I feeling this? Quickly, I put my mental block up and prepare for whatever shit storm is about to happen between Ang and Siobhan. I’m damned sure whatever is going on between them is causing this vibration.
Siobhan pulls out a dagger from her belt then lurches at Ang. Being quicker than Siobhan, Ang dodges her, then slinks back at lightning speed taking a crouching stance. We all back up as Siobhan moves toward us to get to Ang. I’m tempted to stop her but I hear Ezra’s thoughts. “Get out of her way Jesca. She knows what she’s doing.”
Nate takes my arm and pulls me back with him. “Don’t get involved Jes.”
“I have my block up. How the hell did you get past?”
Staring at him, he glances down at me and thinks, “It wasn’t easy.”
Nate pulls me close to him a second before Siobhan swings her blade in front of me and at Ang. She flips backwards, landing in a hunched stance ready to attack Siobhan. Her movements look like a crazy fast-choreographed dance as she takes a shot at Siobhan. Blood forms on the corner of Siobhan’s mouth. With Ang a good distance away from her, I expect Siobhan to try to attack again after she drew blood, but she surprises me and sheaths her dagger. She raises her eyebrows and grins. “Good shot green pea.”
Ang doesn’t change her guarded stance though, unsure of Siobahn’s motive.
“I think it’s about time we put all of this training to practice boys.”
Luke, Jake, and Ezra receive Siobhan’s idea as they grin. Luke proceeds in commenting. “Siobhan, if I didn’t know you better, I’d say this is your favorite part of the training.”
Siobhan pops her neck then starts stretching her arms “Well, then I guess you know shit, because it’s my favorite part!”
Jake laughs, “That’s my girl.”
With Jake’s comment, Siobhan winks at him. I didn’t peg there being any love connection at first, but it’s obvious now. Nick mimics Jake’s chuckle, drawing the mentors’ attention. “Ha, ha, ha. That’s so funny to make banter out of
our training. Ha, ha, ha.”
Siobhan ignores his antagonizing as she speaks to Ezra.” This is the closest to real these green peas will get. I think they’re ready.”
Ezra has his arms crossed the whole time, watching the interaction. Jake pulls off his sweatshirt, revealing a tight fitting tank top under shirt. His biceps tense and constrict, the muscles rippling as he pumps his arms in and out. “Well, I’ve been ready for about a week now!”
Jake walks over to Nick. Seeing them eye to eye is intimidating now that Nick has packed on as much muscle as Jake. Nick’s voice is low as he responds with that sardonic smile of his. “Hell yeah, baby! Mock combat! Bring that shit!”
Jake glances back at Luke confused by Nick’s excited rant. They both mouth the words, “Mock combat” questioning Nick’s idea of what’s about to happen.
Ezra interrupts, “All right, take it down a notch. We’re waiting until mid-week to begin that phase of the training. However—”
His pause opens up concern among us. Ang asks, “However what?”
Luke explains, “Something happened in Japan—something very relevant to the fellowship.”
“What is it?”
Ezra sits back down on the first set of risers. “Many years ago, it was theorized that wormholes could occur in close proximity to areas of high electromagnetic fields, EMFs. The EMF made the opening of the wormhole much easier to maintain since strong electric energy was naturally in the atmosphere. There’s a handful of locations that emit such EMFs. Two locations on two different continents have been publicized more than the others in recent years.”
Angela chimes in. “I read about this. The Bermuda Triangle and the Dragon’s Triangle are two locations.”
Ezra nods. “Yes, those are the two areas we’re watching. the Devil’s Sea near western Japan, north of Tokyo, and the Bermuda Triangle near Florida. Einstein spent some time in Bermuda back in the 1930’s. It was said that he took up occupancy for a time to qualify for U.S. citizenship. He then sought and received employment through our government to investigate the Bermuda Triangle. Inevitably that’s what solidified the infamous Einstein-Rosen Bridge theory.”
“So, the government paid him to try to find the other end of the wormhole? In the Bermuda Triangle?”
My tone of skepticism can’t be hidden. Ezra glances as Luke. “Still skeptical.”
I feel put on the spot by Ezra’s comment, but continue to listen as he explains. “Einstein spent over fifteen years to bring validity to the theory. His research continued until his death.”
Nick adds. “So, he never finished proving the theory.”
Nate probes even more, “Do you think he discovered that it was sound and didn’t publicly disclose the results, like Sebastian and Balthazar tried to do?”
Ezra nods. “I do believe that. Unfortunately, others weren’t so insightful and cautious.”
I realize what Ezra is saying. Einstein knew long before Sebastian, but kept it from discovery to save us from ourselves. “He was protecting us from ourselves.”
Nick brings us back to the pressing issue as he asks Ezra, “You said something happened in Japan. What is it?”
Luke takes over. “Three days ago, Japan suffered the worst earthquake in its history. The quake’s initial destruction was significant and the aftershocks are still being felt; as strong as 7.7 on the Richter scale.”
Ang makes an assumption. “You think the quake had something to do with the Dragon’s Triangle. The wormhole.”
Siobhan adds, “The guardians we have in Japan were sabotaged last night. We sent five guardians in to shut down the unit of Sondians that were opening the wormhole there.”
“Shit.”
Nick’s one word response resonates with me. She’s talking about wormholes in the real world, like its common place. It’s definitely a “shit” moment.
Ezra rises and walks back toward us. “The wormhole had been open for more than thirty minutes from what our surveillance had shown. That length of time can create massive gravitational instability in our world.”
Nate speaks up. “Like an immense earthquake.”
Ezra looks at him and nods. “Yes, like an immense earthquake. Apparently, three of our five guardians were deep cover Sondian guardians. We’d no idea. Once our guardians were in the warehouse, the three deep covers eliminated Jonathan Hatton, one of our most valued assets. Joan Leal, the other, single-handedly wired the explosives and blew the entire warehouse, closing the wormhole.”
“Did she make it out?”
As Ezra looks down at the ground in silence, Luke responds to my question. “In order to shut down the unit, she made a choice. She chose to save humanity for one more day.”
Everyone is silent. Partly for such a brave and selfless act, but also for what we’re on the path of becoming—guardians like Joan Leal.
Siobhan adds somberly, “Somewhere along the chain of command, someone let their guard down. The momentary lapse could’ve been a temptation, or pride, anything. And now we have to replace the guardians we lost.”
Jake tucks his hands in his jean pockets. “We have mentors and guardians scattered throughout the world. The hot spots for now are in the US and Japan, for obvious reasons. There are Dobrian guardians already in position to take over in Japan along with their mentors and our sleeper cell has cleaned up the aftermath, covering our tracks if a police investigation develops.”
This is a well-oiled machine. Systems are in place to replace those that perish without missing a beat. And the police, the government, those not involved in the fellowship are none the wiser of what’s going on beneath their noses.
Ezra’s voice becomes harsh again. “So it was hard to accept when you guys strolled in ten minutes late, like you owned the place.”
My pang of guilt is significant. Lives had been lost while we were playing GI Joe in the cavernous underground facility. I speak for all of us. “We’re sorry. It was irresponsible of us.”
Siobhan nods, and then claps her hands loudly. “That’s why we’re changing training up today.”
Ezra starts in, “The remainder of your time in the facility will focus on three core activities: abilities training, mission combat, and intelligence training. You all need to know the back-story and most recent accounts of enemy attacks on our guardians. The more you know about Dobrian and Sondian guardian warfare in the past, the better prepared you’ll be when you’re out there among the wolves.”
“How’s the combat going to work?” Nate asks.
Siobhan walks up to Angela. “First, we’ll combat mentor against trainee for a solid two days.”
I interrupt Siobhan and look at Ezra for confirmation. “Wait, I thought you said not yet.”
Ezra shrugs his shoulders and looks up at the ceiling. “I changed my mind.”
He glances at me, then at Siobhan. “I sent her my thoughts, but kept you green peas out.” He watches each of us squirm then finally rests his eyes on me. “It’s all in the technique.”
Siobhan continues to explain. “After the two days, you’ll team up together and fight us, the mentors. You need to have team experience as well. Using your abilities together makes you stronger than using your abilities on your own. Energy attracts energy. The buildup of it infuses with your abilities and allows you both to use abilities interchangeably—double the power.”
Siobhan walks towards Jake. Closing her eyes, she clasps one of Jake’s hands. He closes his eyes and within seconds, they’re both rising from the ground.
Nick whispers in awe, “Sweet!”
Siobhan and Jake open their eyes, still hovering ten feet above us. Jake asks Siobhan, “You ready?”
Suddenly, Jake opens the palm of his other hand and a vapor stirs from the surface of it. A flame burst forth turning orange, then a deep blue. Siobhan raises her palm just over Jake’s flame, and then it t
ransfers to hers. After a few more moments, they return to the ground and the flame disappears from Jake’s palm. Siobhan stumbles back a little once Jake backs away. “We haven’t teamed up in a while. It’s been about a month, month and half now. Right, Jake?”
Jake is squatting low to the ground a little out of breath. He ruffles his hair a bit, looks up at Siobhan and winks. “Yeah, it’s been a while. But it’s like riding a bike. You don’t forget.”
Seeing the way they’re looking at each other, my mind starts to create a story for them—guardians of the universe, never meant to fall in love. I rein in my thoughts just as I feel Nate watching me. He leans closer. “That’s so sweet it’s giving me a fucking toothache Jes.”
I elbow him in the side and hide my burning cheeks. “Then don’t get in my head uninvited smart ass.”
I retaliate by listening in on him as he rolls his eyes at me and thinks, “It really was sweet. She’s sweet.”
We both are looking at each other now, the angry fire in me squashed by his thought of me being sweet. I shake my head, not wanting to give it any more thought than I already have. I move past him as Nick and Ang follow after the mentors, already on the move. “Whatever.”
CHAPTER 12: JUMP
Jesca
Each of us partner with our mentor and divide up to a separate part of the facility. Angela and Siobhan take the open gym area. They need space with the very acrobatic combat style they both possess. Jake and Nick head to the pool, needing close proximity to water just in case Nick’s fire starting gets out of control. The shifting for Nick can be done anywhere, but they’re going to try to incorporate that under water as well. Since being in the facility, Nick has graced us with a German Shepherd shift, a camel shift, an adorable puppy dog shift for Ang and me and a Jim Carey shift. But he needed to work on shifts that helped him blend into the environment, not draw attention to himself.
Luke and Nate target his Latrosis, the ability to physically heal others with his mind and life force. This ability is very valuable, but very difficult to balance and master. Luke thinks it’d be best to start small. Scrapes, blisters, nosebleeds, headaches, and vertigo from the life force drain we experience after using our abilities. All of these are bound to happen with us using our abilities rigorously today, so he should be busy.
Copula Chronicles: The Complete Collection: Origin, Descend, Ascend, Legacy Page 11