Wind-Scarred (The Will of the Elements, Book 1) (17 page)

“
I
know you may not want to hear this...” Kirsten began.

“
Th-that could have been, I mean,” Ezra swallowed, trying to
think of something, anything! “A lot of people joined in on that
event by the end of the day. She was probably just using the
shuttles and thought it looked like fun!”

Kirsten shook her head slowly then returned
her eyes, brimming with compassion, back to him. “That was my first
thought too,” she said gently, “but the time stamp on the image
places it within two minutes of the generally agreed upon beginning
of the event.” She took a step toward him, placing a hand on his
shoulder. “I know this might be hard for you to hear right now, but
I think I know what's going on.”

Ezra looked back at her,
stricken. This was all his fault. He should have seen this coming.
Kirsten always saw through everything. Secret colony of pet
tarantulas? Exterminated. Artificially induced stomach flu? Never
had a chance. Wormhole hopping to hide from a first date with Mitzi
Parnasus? Caught before his second jump. He should have told the
Guild that they would need to kill him, because Kirsten
always
found out
everything
.

“
I
believe that Miss Doe, if that's even her name, is an agent for the
Guild of Sundry.”
Oh god.
“
I believe she was sent
to pick you up, most probably through a quick and hard seduction,
to make you more compliant.”
Kirsten had
seen through it all
. “And I believe that
the ultimate goal in all of this is...”
Here it comes, put on a brave face, Ezra.
“
...the defamation and humiliation of
the Hawkins family.”

What?

“
It was all very simple, once I put the pieces together. They
set you up to take the blame for several incidents on Founder's Day
in order to establish you as irresponsible and reckless. You
probably helped them with this more than was absolutely necessary,
but I am willing to admit that you may not have been completely at
fault. Miss Doe insinuates herself into your life, introducing you
to several other members of the Guild along with Sarah Hughes. They
make you an offer that seems too good to be true with the ultimate
goal of stealing the Hawkins Legacy of wormhole technology or, at
the very least, moving it into the public's hands by showing the
last surviving heir to the family to be unfit.” Kirsten nodded,
eyes closed, as she paced back and forth.

“
I, uh...”

“
It all makes sense, Ezra, if you just take the time to think
about it.” Kirsten began ticking off points on her fingers. “You'll
be too distracted by Miss Doe to take necessary precautions. In
fact, they may even be attempting to have you get a child with her
or Miss Hughes, so that when you are declared unfit the entire
Legacy falls into their hands.” Ezra blinked. Kirsten actually
thought about that as a logical possibility? “They have you build
them wormhole generators that they can then use to cause mass
havoc, then neatly lay the blame on you. Mr. Matanane was probably
meant as a distraction for me, trying to cover their sloppy back
trail, but,” Kirsten smiled ruefully, “they made a miscalculation
there.”

“
They...wha?” Ezra hadn't quite worked his way up to coherence
yet, but he was getting there.

Kirsten gave him a level look. “He's not my
type.” Then, continuing to pace, “I have to admit, it was a rather
well prepared scheme. I'm impressed that the Hughes family would go
so far as to even dis-inherit their own daughter to set this up...
but at the same time, it's nice to be pitted against worthy
opponents.” A feral grin flashed over Kirsten's features. “I was,
however, able to win us a little leeway that I think we can work
with, so long as you do exactly as I say. While the contract
detailed how long the project was to last in total, it did not
specify any rate at which it would be completed. Nor did they
impose any contingencies when I insisted that the Hawkins family be
awarded the money at set intervals, to defray costs.” She stopped
pacing in front of Ezra, reaching out and grasping both of his
arms, staring directly into his eyes. “Ezra, I need you to drag
your feet on this. Waste as much time as possible while we collect
from the Hughes family and this dummy corporation they've created.
I'll work out something, I promise. We'll get through this.” She
gave his arms a squeeze, a hopeful little smile on her face.

She's actually having
fun
, Ezra thought dazedly.

“
Ezra? I'm also going to need you to behave as if you don't
know about any of this. I know that it will be difficult for you,
that you may think you have some feelings for the girl, or feel
betrayed by her... but I'll help you in every way I can.” She
peered up at him, eyes bright and concerned. “Do you think you can
do that? I need to know how you feel about all of this.”

“
I
feel...” Ezra hesitated.
She hadn't
figured it out.
There as too much at risk,
he couldn't let her take control of the situation.
Maybe, just maybe...
“
I feel surprised that you put it all
together.”

Kirsten O'Donnell gave him a confused
look.

He sighed and turned back to his workspace,
keeping what he was typing on his display private. “I came to
pretty much that same conclusion when they approached me with the
contract offer.” He needed to find a copy of that contract...
there! Now, an image of a skiff unloading something in front of a
restaurant... “I looked around for anything I could find about JaM
Products,” he hurriedly put images together. It didn't need to look
good for a rigorous inspection, just for a second. “and I found
these.” The doctored images flashed across his display. A transport
skiff with a JaM logo on it. “Just before the Great Waffle Switch.”
A man with a briefcase, the JaM image superimposed on it, walking
to a shuttle monitoring station. “The Day of Pants-less Shuttles.”
A skiff partially off screen, half of the JaM logo on it as well.
“The University Statue Caper.”

Kirsten took in the images, eyes widening.
“Of course,” she whispered, “why didn't I think of that?”

Ezra nodded grimly. “They appear to have
been present in some capacity at nearly every Guild of Sundry event
for years, surfacing and then vanishing into the shadows.”

“
I
don't understand,” a bit of the usual edge crept back into
Kirsten's voice. “Why did you go along with it if you
knew?”

“
I
decided that this was an opportunity. The Hughes family had shown
their hand, as had the Guild. With a little planning, I could catch
them all in one fell swoop.” Ezra smiled at Kirsten, all teeth,
nearly a snarl. “While I will build them what they've asked for,
I'll keep the real controls for it right here in my
lab.”

He could almost hear the wheels in Kirsten's
head turning, putting it together. “That way they can't do anything
without your say so,” she gasped. “You'll have them completely
locked down, all the while having them pay you to do it and gaining
the family a powerful resource in Hughes Legacy wormhole
generators. They would last forever...” She gazed at Ezra in
wonder. “Why didn't you tell me about this?”

“
Well Miss O'Donnell,” he paused, glancing away.
Have to time this just right...
he swept his gaze back to her, eyes hooded. “I
didn't know if I could trust you.”

“
Oh Ezra,” she breathed, eyes beginning to mist over with
tears. No, wait, he hadn't meant to make her cry! Did his trust
really mean that much to her? Could he take that back without
making it sound like he was taking it back?

A broad smile split Kirsten's face as she
stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him a fierce hug. Ezra
froze, panicked and confused. What was going on?

“
I
never imagined that...I didn't think that you'd ever take an
interest in the Legacy, that you were too naïve or didn't care
about anything but your silly wormholes.” She sniffled, laughing a
little, face buried in his shoulder. He tentatively reached down to
pat her back, too shocked to realize how embarrassed he
was.

“
And now with this, it's just... you're so...” She broke the
embrace, taking a step back and cupping his face in her hands. She
cheeks were flushed prettily, eyes sparkling as she beamed up at
him. “Devious!” She made the word sound happy and
bubbly.

“
I, uh... thanks?” Now he was blushing; his stupid body had
realized that fierce Kirsten hugs felt very nice. It added a lot to
the general confusion.

She drew in a deep breath and let it out
slowly, contentedly. Still smiling at him for all she was worth,
nodding slightly, she said, “I'll go draw up some statements so we
can make their humiliation as public as possible.” Her eyes brimmed
with tears again and she gave him another quick hug, crushing
herself to him. “Oh Ezra, you've made me so happy.” She sniffed and
brushed a tear out of her eye as she walked back to the door,
turning to smile fondly at him before she left. “Will that be all,
Mr. Hawkins?” Ezra nodded stiffly.

“
Yes, good.” He croaked to a now empty room. Some detached part
of his mind noted that this was probably some sort of sensory
overload and began making notes as to his threshold for handling
vast and sudden emotional shifts. It also petitioned his rational
mind to cease and desist attempting to be too clever by half. It
was a shame his rational mind still wasn't working.

The next morning, Ezra was wakened by a call
to his room. “Mr. Hawkins, your friend is here for your morning
exercise routine.” Kirsten's voice sounded entirely too awake
for... two in the morning? Ezra was halfway through his shower
before he realized that there was no morning exercise routine. He
pulled on some clothes and hurried to the front door by way of the
kitchen – if he had to be awake he was at least going to eat, darn
it – to find out what was going on.

Mat and Kirsten were
talking in the showing room. Wait, Mat and Kirsten were
talking
?! Ezra paused in
the doorway, confused, wondering if this was an odd dream or
something. Mat was looking pleased with himself. He said something
to Kirsten in a low voice, gesturing to Ezra as he walked in the
room, and she...laughed. Not only that! She put her hand on his arm
while she was laughing. Kirsten was
flirting
with Mat! Mat was smiling
from ear to ear as he called out, “Hey Ezra, ready for that new
training regiment we're starting today?”

Ezra looked at Mat. He looked at Kirsten. He
shook his head a few times. “I think I might still be asleep. I
wouldn't really trust anything I said or did at this point in
time.”

“
Nah, we both know I'd be Gal if you were sleeping. Probably be
wearing less too.” Kirsten laughed at that too! It wasn't even
funny! She leaned on Mat lightly, and he clearly loved it. “Yeah,
we were gonna get in one last trip to the gym this morning before
you locked yourself away for a couple days, remember?” Kirsten's
eyes narrowed and she shot Ezra a quick glance, then went back to
beaming at Mat. “And speaking of Doe, she knows you're gonna be
working on whatever you're doing with Sarah Hughes, right? I seem
to recall her being the jealous type...” Mat scratched his stubbly
chin, as if stroking an imaginary beard.

“
Oh, yeah. The, uh, testing. Making sure that our prototype can
handle the strain. Yeah, a few days, at least.” Ezra tried to stop
giving Mat confused looks, but Kirsten had begun lightly stroking
his arm! When did this... hadn't they been... Ezra was missing
something here.

“
No time like the present. Let's go, Legacy boy, I'm gonna make
you remember this workout.” Mat turned, a serious look on his face,
and brought Kirsten's hand up to his lips. “And I'll just have to
look forward to next time.” She giggled again, renewing Mat's grin.
He was whistling as he sauntered past Ezra, clapping him on the
back a little harder than was necessary.

“
If I could just detain you for one moment, Mr. Hawkins.” She
turned her smile back to Mat. “Family business, I'm afraid. I won't
keep him long, Mat.” Her voice caressed the name. Somehow Mat's
grin got even bigger. Ezra wondered how much wider it could grow
before Mat's face split in half. It couldn't be that much
more.

Once they were alone, Kirsten's voice
returned to its usual 'all business' tone. “This doesn't appear to
be something you were planning; will you need my help killing it or
cutting it short?”

Oh god, she's in
conspiracy mode. No wonder she seems to be all over the
place.
“
Um, no,
I...” Ezra sighed, shaking his head slightly, miming a glance over
his shoulder. “I've been expecting this. I believe the Hughes
family will use this occasion to make their move on the
other
front. However...”
how had Kirsten said it last night? Ah, “...they made a
miscalculation. She's not my type.”

Kirsten smiled at him conspiratorially,
touching his arm lightly. “I'll keep everything running smoothly
here. You can count on me.”