One soft knock to the door, then Nate opens it and whispers, “Can I come in?”
His checking on me every morning has become a habit since his taking up residence with us in the villa. I whisper back, “Yes.”
It’s still dark in the room with the first light of dawn slowly creeping through the window. Nate’s hair sticks out in every direction, he’s wearing a long-sleeve unbuttoned shirt, and a pair of boxer shorts as he shuts the door behind him. As he turns to me and comes toward the bed, his six-pack peeks through his open shirt. I close my eyes, partly because I’m still sleepy, but partly because he’s gorgeous and while he’s getting in bed with me now, it’s completely platonic. Yeah, you keep telling yourself that Jes. The link doesn’t feel platonic when he’s healing me that’s for sure.
I scoot over in the bed and he climbs on top of the covers next to me, laying his head to face me. “You don’t look like the Bride of Frankenstein, Jes.”
Shit. I let that thought slip. While Ezra says it’s not wise to keep our thoughts free flowing between us, Nate and I have agreed to keep our minds open to each other only when we are in training with our abilities or when we sense danger. Ezra says that’s the intention of a link by all accounts is to make us stronger and safer as Dobrian guardians. However, keeping my thoughts to myself is probably the safest thing for Nate and me.
Nate reaches his hand out slowly then brushes a stray hair from my face. His blue-green eyes are so soothing to look at and the feel of his finger grazing my forehead has the same affect. He whispers, “How did you sleep?”
I close my eyes again, letting the exhaustion pull them closed. “Okay. You?”
I hear the tension in his voice when he responds. “Jes, you need to sleep. Would it help if...”
My eyes pop open as I glare at him and raise my voice a little too loud. “NO!”
God, I hope Ezra didn’t hear that.. Nate’s idea of us spending the night in bed together, just sleeping, is ridiculous. It would not do a thing to ease my nightmares, and I would be thinking, many thoughts all night. With the volatile reactiveness we’ve experienced with our link, my virginity would definitely be in jeopardy. Not that I would mind—Gah! No! I shouldn’t be thinking that!
As I stare at Nate, a smile playing on his lips as he glimpses my thoughts, I lower my voice and take a deep breath in. “No. It’s not a good idea.”
I turn the tables before he can speak the snide remark he has building inside his head. “You aren’t sleeping well either. What good would two over exhausted guardians be for the salvation of our universe? Why aren’t you sleeping?”
It’s crazy, but I can feel him tossing and turning all night even though he’s in a room across the hall from me. Sometimes in the throes of my nightmares, I hear him call out within seconds of me waking.
Ezra said that our intuitive response for each other and telepathic link would develop at a quicker pace now that we’re training with our joined abilities daily.
I’ve come to terms with the fact that my lucid nightmares will seep into our world. It isn’t a question of if they will any more. Moreover, the nightmares, the vivid images of what may lie ahead are becoming a stronger presence in my mind, like it or not.
Nate shifts on the bed to lay flat on his back. “I’m getting more sleep than you are. It’s not bad.”
Nate yawns and pulls the covers out from under him. I feel the cool draft touch my legs from the sheets lifting. The weather has turned cold recently. It’s been cooler than what you would expect for Florida in early fall. Ezra said that we’d start seeing some climate changes before the collision of our galaxy with Andromeda. We don’t know what kind of effect the collision will have on us. Our galaxy could intersect with it and survive, or collide and kill us all instantly from the force of the collision.
After Nate settles the covers back over us, he turns to face me. His eyes focused and intense all of a sudden.
“What?”
Nate pulls my hand from under my pillow and holds it in his. “Don’t try and wrap your mind around it. I have tried and failed.”
I look at him, smirking. I know he’s right. “Wow, look at how smart you are, Nathaniel Sera!”
He scoffs once, then grins as he wraps his arm around me and pulls me closer to him. Yes, this is a key reason sleeping, just sleeping, in the same bed would not work.
Softly, he says, “Don’t do that. You do that when you want to make light of something you’re feeling. It’s all right to be scared.”
I’m about to argue with him when he puts his index finger on my lips to hush me. My breath catches with the sudden touch and before I can consider stopping what he’s starting, he moves in and rests his lips gently on mine.
He pulls back a fraction, just enough to search my eyes. I can’t deny that I’ve missed the feel of his lips The last time we kissed, Corinna was just taken and he had healed me in the most intense healing experience he and I have had. That same night, Ezra told me he was my biological father. As I snuck out to go for a run, Xander came out of nowhere, asked me to leave Miami with him, planted the breathless kiss on me and then disappeared into thin air.
I knew Nate knew Xander had kissed me as soon as I walked through the door
Yes, I have felt guilty about kissing both of them in the same night, and that has helped keep things platonic between us for the last two months. His heavy gaze as he licks his lips and slips his hand under my nightshirt, along with my need for this guilty pleasure kicks my libido into overdrive. I push the shirt off his shoulders, wanting this guilty pleasure that has been building between us for weeks. Running my hands along his smooth sculpted arms, he eagerly works the shirt off, and then dips his mouth down to take mine in the deepest way.
As I unravel in his arms and he consumes me , I run my hand along the stubble of his jaw as he slides his hand down my back, my ass, then grips my thigh and pulls it over his hip. The brief contact with his hardness stirs the most exquisite feeling inside me. It’s as if little knots of tension are bubbling deep in my groin.
Suddenly, Nate breaks the kiss and pulls back to look at me. Our breaths are coming fast as he squeezes my thigh draped over his leg. Resisting the urge to kiss me again, he releases a glimpse of his reason into my mind––my virginity.
As he stares at my lips, a hint of carnal need to take them again, maybe take me all the way, still lingering in his eyes. All of a sudden, his breath hitches as he narrows his eyes on me as he whispers urgently , “Shit, Ezra’s coming to your room!”
I’m still hung up on our bodies, our lips, where things were heading so quickly when Nate scoots away from me, making what he is saying real. Ezra, my dad, is coming to my room and Nate is here making out with me! Shit!
Before I can tell Nate to hurry and get out, I hear a knock at my door.
“Jes, I need to talk with you.”
Nate sits on the bed looking between the door and me.
My voice cracks under the pressure. “Um, just a minute, I need to get dressed. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
The silence on the other side of the door makes me wonder if Nate’s and my mental blocks are doing the trick or if we were too wrapped up in the throes of passion to disguise it from him. As Nate puts his shirt on and slinks over to stand behind the door, ready for Ezra to enter any second now , he suddenly speaks, “Okay. Hey, have you seen Nate? He wasn’t in his room.”
Nate’s visible relief matches with my thanking the heavens. “No, I haven’t. Maybe he went for a run.”
Nate is rolling his eyes at what he considers a lame excuse.
Grabbing the closest thing to me, I throw a tennis shoe at Nate, hitting him below the belt.
He mouths, “Ouch.”
I put my finger to my mouth, motioning for him to keep quiet as Ezra asks , “Are you okay in there, Jes?”
I jump off my bed and sprint
toward the door instantly, knowing Ezra’s next move.
The door starts to open and I lean against it, shutting it back in place.
“I’m fine, I just stubbed my toe. I’m getting dressed right now. Hey, I have to get to Ms. Olivia’s soon. Will this take long?”
With my changing the subject, Ezra responds, “I called her to let her know that you and Nate wouldn’t be making it in today. There’s been some development, and we have a change of plans. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
As Nate and I continue staring at each other wondering what development has happened, I hear Ezra walk away from the door. Once we are in the clear, I shuffle Nate out the door sending him across the hall.
As he closes his door, I do the same and lean against it. Replaying what just happened between Nate and me , my fingers rest on my lips as I wonder what Ezra is going to tell us. Ezra is sitting at the table, reading the paper as he says, “Morning.”
I head straight to the coffee machine and mumble, “Morning.”
I’m stirring creamer into my coffee when Nate walks in. His hair is wet from the shower, making it appear darker than it really is. Making sure my mental block is completely bullet proof, my mind drifts to Nate in the shower. My imagination has me smiling in no time and I turn back to the coffee machine to conceal it from Nate and Ezra.
Ezra asks, “Nate, where were you? Your door was open when I came by to find you this morning, but you weren’t there.”
Glancing over at Nate, he grabs the cereal from the cabinet and turns to the refrigerator to get the milk. “I went on the most amazing run.”
I keep my smile hidden as I stir more sweetener into my coffee, and then quickly curb the grin before turning around to them. I don’t escape unscathed as Nate catches my eye, then winks at me as he takes the first bite of his cereal. Ezra’s eyes remain on his newspaper as he speaks, “That isn’t breakfast, Jesca.”
Walking over to the table, I have a seat across from Nate and next to Ezra. “It is until I hear what you have to say. I don’t want to lose my appetite after going to all the trouble.”
Ezra puts his paper down and looks up at me, seemingly charged with a sarcastic remark when he says , “You look like shit!”
I give him the biggest false smile I can produce. “Thanks so much Dad!”
He looks down at his empty plate and shakes his head. “And why haven’t you told me the visions have gotten worse?”
“They’re getting worse, ” Nate interjects.
I glare at Nate. “Thanks, Nate.”
“Sorry, Jes, but Ezra needs to know.” Nate’s eyes dart back to Ezra. “They’re becoming more intense and vivid. They’re premonitions, aren’t they?”
Ezra’s eyes never leave mine. “Yes, they are. All of your abilities are becoming stronger, and their strength has spawned an adapted ability. Your lucid dreaming and Telepathy are melding to create an outlet for these premonitions to be shown to you.”
I hold my mug between my hands and exchange glances between Ezra and Nate. “I’m not sure I want that ability if I’m going to be seeing what I have been seeing. I’d rather not know the future. Is there a way I can block it?”
Ezra straightens in his chair. “Anna had the ability to divine the future. How can you deny a gift that could save us all?”
It’s stupid for me to be so flippant with my words. “I’m not denying it. Just not sure I will be able to do much with them.”
“This is about you not being confident still.” Ezra shakes the paper to life as he starts looking over the text. “That isn’t an option Jesca. We all made mistakes that night. And since that night we have been training and preparing for what comes next.”
“We still haven’t taken down Sam. With all of this training Nate and I have been doing, why don’t we just crash his fucking mansion and take him out?”
Nate’s still munching on his cereal bouncing between Ezra and my exchange.
Ezra folds the paper as his jaw works, then slaps it to the table. “You know the answer to that. Sam has been MIA since the night he took Corinna. Sebastian and the sleeper cell along with other assets have been searching for both him and Xander.”
The mention of Xander’s name produces a stitch in the atmosphere between Nate and me. It’s barely tangible as I glance at him seeming to be unfazed as he eats. I may not be able to get past the mental wall he’s produced, but I know Xander isn’t his favorite person.
Ezra carries on, “Your visions will be able to help us find him. Better yet, it could possibly stop the collision from happening. There is still time.”
I tense with hearing the word ‘collision’.
Ezra reads my mind. “Our scientists have confirmed that our galaxy and Andromeda will intersect. It won’t be a collision in the true sense of the word Jesca. I just use the words interchangeably at times.”
I sigh. “Well, it doesn’t matter to the public. All they see is the chaos the media is serving them.”
Within a week after Sam Crest and Xander disappeared from Miami’s grid, the imminent collision of the Andromeda galaxy with ours was leaked to the mainstream news. Months prior to the leak, scientists had speculated that the climate shift and other global events might have been a result of a gravitational imbalance in the Earth and its atmosphere. They had said a polar shift might be occurring. Then, a reporter from CNN accessed information from an unknown source that confirmed the collision as a scientific fact and an immediate danger to our world.
Nate insinuated that someone had gotten sloppy, but Ezra and I knew that this was a tactic put in place by the Sondian fellowship, and possibly Sam Crest.
For the past two months, Ezra has awaited intelligence from the Dobrian fellowship’s scientists while he, Nate and I take note of the local, national and global news reports. Rebel factions have begun sprouting up globally. Civil riots and protests for government assistance caused worldwide governmental departments to be on high alert. They started shutting down borders between nations, trying to keep the chaos contained within their own countries. The leak served its purpose to make our jobs harder. And we are only a few saviors in a sea of frightened and confused civilians.
Ezra looks between Nate and me. “Sebastian is sending us on a mission.”
I feel a knot form in my stomach as I think of how this one turned out in Miami.
Nate sits back in his chair. “What about our mission here?”
Ezra sighs. “Well, the mission here has fled Miami and is now in Tokyo, Japan.”
“Wait, Sam is in Japan?”
Ezra nods. “We need to get a fellow guardian on board with us and take care of some housekeeping at MIT first. Sebastian hasn’t confirmed, but I think that’s where we’re headed.” Ezra pauses, nervously tapping a pen on the table. “This fellow guardian, he may be—resistant.”
“Why would he resist? Who is it?”
Ezra looks down at his finger and thumb as they curl the newspaper’s edge. “He may resist because of what I have to tell him about himself. It could change the outcome of things greatly .”
He glances at Nate, then me. “You may resist too.”
I lean onto the table, looking directly into Ezra’s cautious eyes. “Us resist? I highly doubt that! Try me.”
Ezra breathes in deeply. “I’ve told you about the implantation of the second-generation Copula.”
Nate nods. “Yeah? What about it?”
Ezra holds up his iPhone. “A device similar to this was used prior to travel to send a surge of electricity directly to the Copula. Like a Copula defibrillator.”
I recall the idea of Sebastian electrocuting himself to get the propulsion going to pierce our world and travel into the wormhole to another. “Yeah, the electrocution thing.”
Nate rolls his eyes at me. “It wasn’t electrocution.”
I don’t even look at him a
s I stare at Ezra. “Yes, it was.”
Ezra seems put out by our brief back and forth. “It doesn’t matter. The point is the controller had multiple purposes. It had capabilities of recording neurological and physical data, changes within the body during and after travel through the wormholes. As protocol, after every mission, Sebastian’s associates collected the data to check for any 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?
I tune back in to hear Ezra’s weary voice mid-thought. “…physical strength and speed. Psychic abilities, such as clairvoyance, telepathy...”
As the thoughts keep firing in my head, the question suddenly hits me–– are we implanted? I almost speak the words, but instead, I quickly shut my gaping mouth.
Nate has seen my reaction though as he questions, “Jes?”
I suspect Ezra’s bothered by the look on my face. As I’ve kept him out of my head, he’s keeping me out of his as I try to pry inside his mind without asking directly. Sensing my evasive tactic , Ezra sits back in his chair, crossing his arms in front of his chest. His voice is even when he tells us both. “You are each implanted with a Copula.”
CHAPTER 2: ALTERED
Jesca
I pull my hooded sweatshirt over my head to shield me from the chill in the air as I walk on the beach. It’s mid-August, and the weather could easily pass for late November in Georgia. Damn it, do n’t have a panic attack, Jes. Just 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 is going on inside of me.
The Copula has altered me, but from what? What was I like before I was implanted? Normal? Did they implant me to save me or make me into something they needed? Am I a weapon for this Dobrian fellowship? I stop walking as the next thought hits me. Am I a fucking alien?
Copula Chronicles: The Complete Collection: Origin, Descend, Ascend, Legacy Page 23