Secret Worlds (484 page)

Lena focused on her hands. Rose’s hands shook.

“You have to share it, Rose, like you’ve seen us do in the lab.” Phoebe’s urgent voice floated down the hall. “But don’t try to take it all. Hers is too much.”

Rose grasped Lena’s hands. “Let me help. Let it go.” Rose said more, indistinct noise.

Lena gasped for air. The small, ineffectual breaths sounded like crashing in her ears but did nothing to feed her body oxygen. The energy spiraled around her, coursing in.

Rose’s fingers, clamped onto hers, were intertwined and white with pressure. Rose dropped to her knees to get Lena’s attention. She looked up into Lena’s face, her mouth moving, eyes urgent.

If she released it, if she gave it to Rose, she’d kill her. Rose was strong, but she wasn’t used to doing what Lena did. Could Lena control it? Could she let the excess energy bleed out into the other woman little by little, enough for Lena to regain control? Lena’s head rocked back against the wall and she squeezed her eyelids shut, holding back with everything she had.

Control it. Control it.

She opened herself to the connection.

Lena’s head rested on her curled arms. She fought nausea and the mother of all headaches at a desk in the small room Alex had hurriedly opened for them. They’d told her Jackson stood guard outside as the Wards and Guardians leaving the auditorium streamed past. Lena could still feel their energy buffeting her like a wind through a canyon. It slowed as their massed numbers dropped.

She would never again allow herself to be trapped in an area with a large group of powerful Sparks.
Small groups
, she told herself.
Small groups only
.

Rose paced, back and forth, back and forth.

The girls and Alex were lined up against the wall, avoiding the static discharges still crackling between Lena and Rose. The girls giggled at Rose’s manic energy.

“Is this what it feels like to be you, all the time?” Rose asked again.

It was possibly the tenth time. She waited for the corollary question.

“Is this what it will feel like to be me?”

And there it was. One of the twins murmured a number. It set off a cascade of muffled laughter.

Lena took a deep breath, coughed back the nausea, and lifted her head. She squinted across the room at them.

She was acutely aware of Alex’s concern.

He shifted, watching her carefully. “How’re you feeling?”

“Pretty shitty. How close did I come to blowing everything up?”

“Pretty close. Let’s try to make sure that doesn’t happen again, okay?”

She nodded. “Okay.” She allowed her gaze to follow Rose for a few seconds before her stomach heaved at the constant motion. “Is she glowing?”

He frowned. “It’s more like a corona. And it’s fading fast.” He assessed Lena. “You’ve stopped glowing.”

She processed that. She couldn’t make heads or tails of it right now. Her head felt like someone had driven a spike from the base of her neck up at an angle into her brain.

She squinted at the girls. “How are you all doing?”

Marissa, leaning comfortably against Alex’s leg, popped her thumb out of her mouth long enough to smile at Lena. Charity and Constance grinned across at her for a moment, and then returned to tracking Rose’s movements. Phoebe and Marin murmured that they were all fine.

Hania cleared her throat. “You shouldn’t worry about us. You get better.”

Lena’s heart clenched. “Were you scared, Hania?”

The girl nodded, the movement so small Lena barely perceived it. Her hair, clean now, hung in a dark shining curtain around her face. It gave away the movement Lena might have missed otherwise.

“I’m sorry I frightened you, Hania. I’m better now.” She received the barest flutter of a smile. She decided then she would wipe the men who’d hurt these girls from the face of the planet. Nothing would stop her.

She looked back to Alex. As usual, he seemed to read her mind.

“When you’re ready, we should go. They’re hungry, but they wouldn’t leave you. And Thomas is waiting to talk to you.”

She lifted her brows in one motion with her raising head.

He shrugged. “There’re some things we need to discuss with our new partner.”

She took another big breath. “I’m ready when she is,” she said, nodding toward Rose.

Everyone looked at Rose, who stopped pacing and looked back, making an attempt at her usual tough, controlled persona.

“I’m fine. Better than fine. I feel great.”

“Wonderful,” Lena told her. “Want some more?”

“No.” Alex and Marin chorused together.

Rose laughed, the sound a little manic.

Lena looked at Marin and Phoebe. “She will be okay, right?”

“Yes.” Marin answered.

“We don’t know.” Phoebe said. The two looked at each other and then shrugged at her. “If we had to guess, probably yes,” Phoebe allowed. “But we’ve never seen anyone share anything that….” She shook her head.

“Big?” Lena suggested.

“Dangerous.” Alex supplied.

Phoebe pointed at him.

“I’m pretty sure you were literally about to—” He made an exploding motion with his hands. The sight of it keyed something in Lena’s mind, something she should remember. Trying to catch the elusive memory made her head throb, though, so she let it go.

Marissa, taking a cue from Phoebe, pointed at Alex in confirmation.

“We’ll work in more control exercises, for your Spark and your temper.”

“With Wils?” she asked, then she smirked. The Guardian she’d humiliated taught control to the incoming and primary year students.

He chuckled. “We’ll think of something.”

“If you’re really okay,” Lena checked with Rose. “We should go.”

Rose clapped her hands.

Lena winced and tried to swallow the heave. She gingerly got to her feet and followed them out of the room. Alex was making arrangements with Jackson to take the girls to the cafeteria. With a worried look for Lena, Jackson led them away.

She shook her head. “You’ve got to stop using him as a babysitter.”

Alex smiled. “No worries on that front. He has his new orders. It’s safe to say he’s happy with them.”

“Oh. Something more than training me in reconnaissance techniques, I take it?” It wasn’t quite a pang inside. Perhaps regret for what might have been? She swallowed and pushed it away. She didn’t want Jackson. She was an assignment to him. He’d made it clear.

Alex shrugged and nodded. “Sorry.”

He didn’t sound sorry. He sounded pleased. The king of the sexy smirk and the intense, sidelong gazes when he thought she wasn’t looking sounded pleased. Perhaps they needed to revisit their agreement not to talk about that kiss?

“C’mon,” he said. “Thomas is waiting.”

They moved through the halls, and Alex adjusted his usual brisk pace to her pained walk. Lena noted the halls were unusually empty and said so.

“Yeah, well, you made an impression. Wards are tucked away in class. Guardians are teaching…or behind closed doors plotting.”

“Plotting?” She winced. “So you think I alienated them enough to betray you to the Council?”

He moved his shoulders and looked at her, his lips quirked up. “That’s always been a possibility, from the very beginning. We watch. We listen. We keep close tabs on entrances and exits.” He laughed. “We’ve always been of the opinion that any coup will come after we’ve rid them of the Council. We’ll see if our opinion changes any over the next few weeks.”

“I’m sorry if I’ve screwed it all up.”

“You haven’t screwed anything up, Lena.” He paused in the hallway outside Thomas’s office. A slow smile spread across his face. “You have made things measurably more interesting. I’ve definitely been enjoying myself.”

She managed a low laugh. “It’s been an adventure, hasn’t it? I’d say we’ve had our moments. You conduct a hell of a reconnaissance training, Agent Reyes.”

“I could say the same for your private lessons.”

It seemed his own words had taken him by surprise. He turned his head to his shoulder for a moment, then turned back to her with a broad, unrepentant smile.

“I thought we weren’t going to talk about that?”

His gaze dropped to her lips, tracing them as she grinned up at him. “We’re not.” He shook his head. “We’re not,” he repeated.

He pushed open the door, shooing her in ahead of him. Behind her, he muttered something about talking being overrated. He led her past an unmanned desk and into an office.

“Well, that doesn’t seem very efficient,” she remarked breathlessly, tilting her head toward the empty desk as they entered.

“I sent my assistant to get breakfast. I figured you might want to eat,” Thomas told her, looking up from his desk. He dropped his pen and leaned back. “You need to eat. You look like hell.”

“Thank you.” That must be why she felt a little giddy. She needed to eat. She eased herself into a chair. She sat for a moment, uncomfortable and aware of them watching her. Finally, she cursed softly and pulled her legs up, tucking her knees under her chin.

Alex sprawled in the chair next to her.

Thomas leaned back in his chair. “That was quite the performance with Guardian Wils.”

“You said they needed a demonstration.”

He gave her a long look. She looked right back, completely unrepentant. He exhaled and frowned at Alex.

“She fits right in, doesn’t she?” Alex deadpanned.

Thomas laughed, a quick burst of sound. He nodded agreement. “I guess she does. Except when we get mad at her, we can’t work it out in the sparring ring.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she smirked, “I could probably take you—both.”

They looked at her in startled silence, then both threw back their heads and roared with laughter.

“Yeah,” Alex said, wiping tears away, “you probably could take Thomas. He could never hit a woman.”

“And yet I hit you all the time, Alex.”

“Are you two really going to sit there and use ‘woman’ as code for being weak in front of the girl who could stop your heart in five seconds flat?”

“You’re right,” Thomas said, “We don’t want you to get mad. You might, I don’t know…” He looked at Alex for help.

“Explode?” Alex offered.

Thomas nodded. “There’s the word I was looking for. Yeah, explode.”

She made a face at them.

“What was that all about, Lena?” Suddenly all business, Thomas seemed worried. “The glow? The massive energy—” He gestured with his hands.

“I don’t know. I really don’t. It’s only happened once before, and not like that. I have no idea why it happens.”

“Except it happens when you’re really angry?” He glanced at Alex, who was already shaking his head.

“No, she was healing me last time the glow happened.”

Thomas digested that. “And you weren’t angry?”

Lena shook her head.

“No strong emotions?”

She shook her head again.

“Nothing held back or—” He widened his eyes, clearly grasping at straws.

She started to shake her head again, but then stopped, considering.

“What? What did you think of?”

She could feel her face getting warm. She shook her head. “No….”

Thomas leaned forward. “Lena, this is important. We have big plans. We want to include you. But there are motivators that may upset you. We won’t share them if we think you’ll be a risk to yourself or anyone else as a result. So if there’s something, spill it.”

She took a big breath. “When I healed Alex, there may have been a strong reaction. To touching him. One I suppressed.” She refused at look at Alex. Like the man didn’t already have a huge ego? “Not anger.”

Thomas flicked a glance at him.

She would not look over.

“I see.” Thomas rubbed his lips. Was he trying not to laugh?

She closed her eyes in mortification.

“No, really, it’s fine,” Thomas continued drily. “That happens a lot with him. Happens to me sometimes when I hit him.”

She did laugh at that. She shook her head and looked at Alex. He wore a small smile, but he didn’t have anything to add.

The three of them fell silent. Lena cleared her throat. “So…. Big plans?” She prompted.

Thomas made a gesture for Alex to go ahead.

“You remember that we started all of this after noticing certain discrepancies?” Alex asked.

She nodded.

“After we made the decision to move, to make a change, we decided the one advantage we have that the Council does not is our longevity.”

Lena frowned. “But the Council uses Sparks?”

“They use them, yes. But no Councilor is a Spark. Never has been. And under current traditions, there never will be.”

She looked at Thomas, questioning. He was a Spark.

“They don’t know I’m a Spark,” he told her. “I’m very careful to maintain that side of the role when I’m outside of these walls. I only travel after a thorough grounding. And I never use the Spark, ever, anywhere but here.”

She nodded her understanding.

Alex continued, “Our lifespans allow us the luxury of taking the long view.”

“We moved quickly at first.” Thomas interjected. “We had to consolidate our base here and put me in position on the Council. But since then, we’ve waited and watched. Until you. Things seem to be accelerating now. You have them in quite a state. We’ve decided to take advantage.”

Alex leaned in, elbows on his knees. “Because of the distances involved and the autonomy of each Zone, each Councilor is responsible for naming his own successor. The successor is named within the first year, and the name is submitted in secret to the Council at the annual meeting. No one but the Councilor and the Council knows. Until now. At the Council meeting several years ago, long enough to not arouse suspicion, mixed in with Three’s various reports and requests, he unknowingly submitted a change to his successor. A new name went in.”

Thomas smiled. “It’s time for Three’s heir to take his place. With him, we will have two strategically critical Zones in our control. We can put in motion our plans to acquire the third.”

“So…you’re removing Three.” She remembered the man in his garish clothes. She remembered his eyes on her body.

They nodded.

“The annual Council Meet is coming up. Three leaves via caravan in two weeks.” Alex told her. “He’s going to die on the way. When the caravan arrives at the Meet, the first order of business will be announcing the successor’s name and installing him.”