Landlocked (Atlas Link Series Book 2) (25 page)

pparently Phoenix and Lobster played shows at the Franklin without Chelsea rather regularly. I didn’t know this until I stepped through the front door as I had two and a half years ago, just as paranoid and sickly feeling. I’d managed to get to the airport quick enough to change my flight to land in Boston instead of Ohio, but the overnight flying messed with the side effects of the plague. It took a full day of sleep at the airport hotel and too much coffee to get me back on my feet for tonight. But all I had to do was meet with Valerie and call Sophia for a lift, and then I’d be home.

I didn’t know what she’d say when she discovered where I was. TAO thought I was in Tennessee, not chasing ghosts in Boston.

Phoenix and Lobster had the crowd going. Chelsea’s sister could sing, so they’d finagled their normal set list to fit who they had available. I grabbed a soda from the bar and sat at a table facing the stage. Their band had only gotten better in the last two years. How was it possible they didn’t have a record deal yet?

“They got good.”

I looked up as Valerie thumbed over her shoulder at the stage. Behind her, Chelsea’s sister took center-stage for a solo. “Yeah, they really did.” Valerie grinned and slid into the seat next to me.

The sight of Valerie left me breathless. Two years changed her. She looked like a different person, not the childhood friend I’d grown up with. Valerie had cut her hair short, but it still hung in fiery ringlets around her face. It gave her an air of confidence, an attitude that hadn’t been as obvious before. Life on the run had hardened her, too. Toned arms hung free from her sequenced tank top, and she wasn’t wearing heels. She came prepared to fight if she had to, to run if she couldn’t.

Valerie leaned in and peered up at me. “You look like shit.”

And to think I missed her. “Thanks.”

Her eyes softened and she reached a hand out to my arm. “Seriously, though, are you okay?”

“Loud music’s not my thing.” My head pounded and I’d be willing to bet I was still pale as all hell. “And I got sick.”

She snapped her fingers at a waiter and ordered an appletini. “So I heard.”

“How could you possibly have heard that?”

She shrugged. “I get around.”

“I find that disturbing considering you’re supposed to be a ghost.”

“Even ghosts have contacts.”

We watched the band until her drink arrived. She tipped the waiter generously with money I found hard to believe she’d have. Even if she’d cleaned out her bank account before she left, it wouldn’t have lasted two years on the run.

I leaned over the table. “What’s up with the note?”

She scooted closer to me until our arms touched. We kept our eyes on Phoenix and Lobster despite our conspiratorial mumbles. “Thing is, Trevor, there’s a lot I can’t tell you. I need you to tell
me
what you know about SeaSat5—where it is, who took it, and what Chelsea’s up to.”

“Why can’t you tell me?” I asked.

“Play the game, Trevor. I promise it’ll be worth it.”

I sighed. Valerie ignored it and nursed her drink.

“We know SeaSat5 was taken by the Lemurians,” I said, “although we’re not sure if it was by the same sect Thompson was a part of, or the collective. Although judging by
our
exile, I’m thinking it was the collective.”

“I was exiled,” she said, tipping her drink my way, “you chose to walk away.”

Our parents were highly involved with the side of Lemuria that still existed, that still wanted to stop the Atlanteans from time-traveling. I wasn’t sure if either of our parents had ever gone to the lost continent, but they sure believed in all the customs, all the mythology. Valerie and I had both been raised on all of it. Got jobs in the Navy because of it.

I tried to get out, and when I’d run away, I’d met Chelsea. Valerie had never bothered. She was loyal until the end when she betrayed Thompson and got herself kicked out. I often wondered how long I had until the Lemurians came knocking, wanting answers from me about Valerie. About Dave. About TAO and SeaSat5.

“I never wanted to walk with them in the first place,” I said. “That’s why I left.” Helping them keep their myths afloat was one thing. Assisting them in using the Navy’s masterpiece vessel as a pawn… absolutely not.

“Fair enough. What else do you know?”

I hated this game. If she knew something, she should tell me—not make me dance like a puppet for the answers I needed. “Chelsea’s working with another organization right now, some paramilitary thing.”

“They’re hunting Lemurians,” Valerie said. “Cute little group. But they’re flying by the skin of their teeth.”

I looked at her so I could read her reaction when I asked, “Do you know where SeaSatellite5 is—
when
it is?”

“Even if I did, it wouldn’t matter without a Link Piece to get there,” she said. “But no, I don’t. I’d tell you if I did. They were my friends, too.”

Some friend. She’s the reason they almost died. If she’d kept her mouth shut, things might have actually been fine. “Right.”

“I gotta admit, Trevor, I knew you’d visit Abby sooner or later, but I never expected you to come tonight. We didn’t exactly part on good terms.”

“Seems like I’m not on good terms with many people right now,” I said.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Chelsea and I broke up,” I said, but it seemed stupid to say it on its own, so I added, “and TAO thinks I’m a Lemurian mole. I’ve got all the enemies in the world right now, so I figured meeting with an old best friend was safe enough.”

She turned to me. “Why does TAO think you’re spying for the Lemurians?”

So maybe she didn’t know everything. “Long story short, we ran into a Link Piece that’d been strategically placed. We think it was meant to give a variation of the bubonic plague to Chelsea or Sophia.”

“Because they’re Atlantean super soldiers,” Valerie guessed.

I nodded. “I got it instead, but to place it there, they would have had to know when and where we going, and when we planned to go there. I don’t know why TAO thinks I did it. I’ve never been able to see Link Pieces, never had any powers.” I paused. “Or maybe that’s exactly why TAO thinks I could have gotten away with it.”

Her brow scrunched together and she pursed her lips. “What was the time-place?”

“Not sure,” I said.

“Trevor,” she warned.

I shrugged. “Somewhere in Brazil, sometime B.C. I didn’t get an exact date before we left, and was too busy dying afterward to ask.”

Valerie stared at me, but I didn’t think she meant to. She looked down at her drink, then back up to me. “I can get you answers, but I won’t have them until morning.”

“What? Why?” Her sudden appearance and eagerness to help left a sour taste in my mouth. Valerie’s agenda spread wider than SeaSat5, that much was obvious.

“I have an idea about who left that Link Piece, but I want to check something out, first,” she said. “Can you meet me back here tomorrow morning?”

“Are they even open?”

“The alley is,” she said with a nod toward the back door I knew so well. I exited through it two years ago and started this mess. Funny how something as simple as a door can change everything.

“Okay,” I agreed.

Valerie threw back the rest of her drink and stood. “It was good seeing you again.” Then she moved to leave. Before she was too far away, she stopped and turned back to me. She placed a hand on my shoulder. “Plague aside, you look good, Trevor. Stay safe.”

Then she was gone. I didn’t even have time to tell her that sometimes I thought I saw the Waterstar map in my head.

Phoenix and Lobster’s set ended an hour ago, but I’d stayed at the Franklin anyway. A DJ spun music from the sound booth. I sat watching the empty stage, thinking through Valerie’s words and reactions. She’d known what had happened in that jungle, what Chelsea had been up to lately, and probably more. I’d be willing to bet she knew how to get to SeaSat5, too, though I couldn’t fathom why she wouldn’t tell me.

“Hey,” someone said as they plunked into the seat Valerie had vacated an hour ago. Sarah, Chelsea’s younger sister, smiled at me. We’d talked over the years, getting to know each other through Chelsea inviting me to all the band’s gigs.

“Hi,” I returned.

“What in the world brings
you
to Boston?” she asked. “Chelsea’s not here, is she?”

“No,” I said.

Sarah stood up and walked to the bar.
Okay, then
. But she returned with a bottle of beer and placed it in front of me. “That’s a guilty beer. I know why Chelsea wouldn’t be here.”

Because she’s playing dress-up soldier? “How do you mean?”

“I know she’s been off-kilter lately,” Sarah admitted, a frown edging her lips.

“You could say that.” It came out harsher than I wanted it to.

“Hey, she’s still my sister,” Sarah warned with a glare.

I inhaled slowly, trying to relax. “I know. Sorry. I came here to meet up with a friend who had something for me, that’s all.”

“You came all the way to Boston to pick something up?”

Okay. Good catch. “It’s a long story. If you want to be mad at me, be mad. Chelsea ended what I probably started.”

Sarah gave me a small smile. “I know. She told me things haven’t been great for a while.”

“There’s a lot weighing us down.” And I had a feeling there’d be even more weight once Valerie got back to me in the morning.

I drank some beer in the silence that followed.

“You look like shit,” Sarah said suddenly, leaning in over the table.

I sighed and put down my drink. “Really wish people would stop telling me that.”

“What happened?”

“I caught something nasty. Not contagious, though.”

“Well that’s good to know,” Sarah said, but still scooted her chair away an inch. “So what’s with Chelsea’s new position?”

“It’s temporary.” I was surprised Chelsea had told Sarah about it at all. “She’ll be back with us soon.”

“Yeah, unless Josh convinces her to stay. I just worry about what will happen to the band if that…” Sarah trailed off, eyes widening as she covered her mouth with her hands.

My breath came deliberately slow as I tried to control the anger stirring within me.

“Forget I said that,” she said.

Not like Sarah knew Chelsea wasn’t at TAO anymore. Sarah didn’t know about any of that. And last I checked, Chelsea didn’t plan on letting her in on it until—if—Sarah started showing signs of Atlantean abilities. But still. I balled my fists. “I knew it.”

“Trevor—”

“No, don’t worry about it,” I said.

“But you shouldn’t have had to hear it confirmed by me. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Sarah stood to leave, but I grabbed her arm. “Seriously, it’s fine.”

“Look,” she said as she pried my arm off hers. “I’m really sorry. Let me make it up to you. I don’t know how long you’re in town for, but if you’re not leaving in the next hour or so, there’s a party at Kris’s house, our lead singer?”

“Yeah, I remember him.” Although I didn’t think I’d ever formally met him.

I glanced at my watch. It was already ten. What the hell. A party might actually keep me awake long enough to meet Valerie in the morning and then leave without having to pay for another expensive-as-hell hotel for the night.