New World--Made for Me, page 3
She shrugged, a nonchalant rise and fall of her shoulders that aggravated me beyond belief. Good. I needed that anger to help me recharge again.
“Are you going to do that the whole way there?”
My face heated at her mention of my state of helplessness, but it didn’t stop me from pressing against the restraints again, my mind flooding with a mishmash of things she could do to me while I was strapped in like this.
“You’re going to hurt yourself.”
Her voice was neutral, as though she wouldn’t care either way.
“Good,” I grunted. “I’d rather die than go back there.”
I thought I heard her jaw click, and I was furious enough to add: “I’d rather kill us both in this damn tank than go back there.”
She said something under her breath that ended with “stupid little girl.”
A scream bubbled over in my throat and the light strip above us shattered, spraying glass on the metal floor.
Depleted, I lay back against the cushioned wall of the ship. My eyes closed on their own volition.
Defeated.
I felt something wet and warm slide down my face. Tears, maybe? I didn’t care anymore.
Chapter Four
Ana
Fucking hell.
My heart almost hammered out of my chest as the lights exploded, plunging the back of the control room into darkness.
Surely...surely it couldn’t be her. The girl. She couldn’t be doing this.
People didn’t have powers like that. The ability to rock a fucking tank cruising in space. Or the ability to shatter overhead lights to confetti. I believed in mild types of innate abilities I supposed, but magic? No.
As I lowered my forearm from my eyes, flicking errant bits of glass off my clothes, I saw her head fall back against the side of the ship with a loud thud. Her face was devoid of color, appearing a lot like the pale version of herself in the picture still tucked away in my e-reader. A low moan of pain left her lips, and her eyelids twitched as though she was struggling to open them.
As I watched, two thick rivulets of blood ran across her right cheek and down the center of her forehead, dripping off the edges of the sharp metal piercing across the bridge of her nose. Something in my chest twisted at the sight of such an unnecessary injury.
I cursed under my breath. Keeping this girl alive for the next two weeks would be a tougher challenge than I’d expected.
Her breathing changed, from light and panicked to deep and long. She’d drifted away again.
I shook my head. How could someone who looked so...young and innocent behave like evil incarnate when awake? After her little display, I wondered if she really had the ability to crash the tank and kill us both. If so, how could I possibly stop that?
I needed to do some research, but first...
Unbuckling the straps from her body, I lifted her to the small bedroom at the back of the tank. The black cat was already there, curling itself into a ball at the foot of the bed. It looked up as I walked in with the girl on my shoulder, before promptly ignoring me again.
I placed the warm bundle on the bed, ensuring the ties around her hands and legs were still taut.
It took only a moment to fish out the swabs and sealant from my med kit, and I gently swiped over the little cuts on her forehead. They were only small cuts, and she’d undoubtedly survive. Her hair, too, was full of glass shards, and I took my time picking them out one by one, placing them in a little pile for disposal.
The cat toed its way closer to the girl’s prone form, stretching out against her side, watching me work. Its eyes were unnerving—a shade of green so bright, so iridescent, that it seemed to look into my very soul.
As I removed the last of the glass, the cat laid its paw on the girl’s hand and let out an odd chirp.
I sat back with a frown. I could’ve sworn the cat had just said mine. But that was not possible. Right?
The cat retrieved its paw and tucked it under its lean chest.
“You seem like a decent fella,” I said to it, my fingers lingering in the soft strands of the girl’s hair. “You look smart. Can you keep your friend out of trouble please?”
The cat only stared at me, unblinking, the little light between his eyes glowing brightly.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
It occurred to me that I was probably talking to myself, and I sighed, gathering the shards for disposal.
I made sure to lock the door behind me.
Chapter Five
Kit
My body was sore, so sore, as if I’d sprinted ten miles without stretching. I grimaced in pain, trying to move my limbs but they were... Oh, right. They were tied together.
I tried to push aside the cobwebs of my dreams but they lingered, making my palms feel incredibly itchy and warm. The smell of smoke tickled my nostrils, and when I rubbed my fingers against one another, I thought I felt a spark.
My eyes flew open.
I was now lying in a soft bed, no longer strapped to the seat. The mattress under me made panic crawl up my throat before I realized I wasn’t back in the psycho’s lab. Not yet. Old Earth was at least a two-week journey from Sentinel 5—I couldn’t have been out that long.
The hum of the ship was soothing, whirring through the bed frame like a lullaby. I focused on it, letting it flow through me, trying to get my bearings, the smell of smoke receding slowly until there was only the barest thread of it in the air.
A list. I needed to make a list. That always calmed me down.
-Headed back to Sentinel 5 (T-13 days, I think).
-Too damn cold in this room.
-Stuck on a ship with a Beast. Much bigger than me. Warded.
-My powers are next to useless against her, unless I want to crash the ship and kill us both.
-Can’t kill her with my bare hands. Not stupid enough to try.
-Don’t know how to pilot a damn ship even if I manage to hurt her.
-My back was kind of achy.
There were too many negatives on that list.
Some positives:
-Still alive.
Well, that was good enough, I suppose.
I’d delved so deep into my own thoughts that a movement next to my thigh startled me. I was already on the edge of the bed and went over, landing with a loud thump without the help of my hands to break the fall.
I lay there, groaning into the cold metal, when I heard a questioning “mrrw” above me.
Nero peered down, her little black paws hanging over the side of the bed. She tilted her head this way and that, as though trying to figure out why I was making such pained noises.
At the sight of her sweet face, my eyes instantly filled with tears. I didn’t know how she’d managed to get on board this ship, but I wasn’t surprised. Not in the slightest. If there was one being I knew I could trust without reservation, it was Nero. She was loyal to a fault, even going so far as to let herself be kidnapped with me when Simmons’ men had invaded my grandmother’s sprawling tree house on the edge of the ceremonial woods back home.
I raised my bound hands to her face.
“Can you chew through these?” I whispered, wondering if the Beast could hear me. Her kind were known for their ability to sense movement and noises even from a distance.
Nero sniffed at the ties I placed near her nose, then drew back as though she were offended.
“Or maybe you could just stick those sharp teeth out and I can go back and forth like a saw?”
She blinked at me, unsurprised by my ridiculous suggestion.
Then she yawned, spreading her jaws wide, standing up to arch her back in a looooong stretch.
I let my hands fall back down to my stomach as she slowly made her way to the nightstand, sticking her little face into a black bag that looked somewhat like a med kit.
When she lifted her head, there was a scalpel clasped in her jaw.
“Oh Goddess, Nero! You’re brilliant!” I cooed in a stage whisper, peeking around the small room.
I palmed the scalpel as carefully as I could, cursing when its smooth handle slipped past my palm and clattered right under the bed.
Nero tilted her head to the side as a steady stream of none-too-polite words left my lips. I scooted as low as possible, face flush with the cold metal floor as I felt for the scalpel in the low light. It didn’t help that the floor and the blade were a similar silver.
I pawed around for what seemed like ages, my fingers and cheek growing cold from the constant contact with the icy floor. After what felt like years, my thumb pushed something that felt solid. Aha!
Grabbing the scalpel as safely as I could, I dragged it out from under the bed and into the light, peeking over the top of the mattress to see if the Beast had been alerted by my scuffling. A sigh of relief left my lips when I realized I was still alone.
With slow, careful fingers, I flipped the blade inward, trying to find an angle that wouldn’t slice my skin.
Finally, finally, after numerous close calls, the ties came apart and I started working on the ones that held my feet together.
When I could move, I gathered Nero into my arms and kissed her full on the mouth. She pretended to dislike it.
“Thank you, precious. You honor me with your loyalty.”
She jumped out of my arms, choosing instead to curl back into a ball at the edge of the bed, as was her habit.
I stood, looking at the closed door of the bedroom—well, what now?
Chapter Six
Ana
“If you’re trying to sneak up in the dark to kill me, the least you could do is turn that torchlight off your forehead so I don’t know you’re coming.”
That was a lie. I’d been tracking her since she’d groaned awake, struggling to sit upright in the small bed with her bound hands and feet. Her breathing pattern had shifted ever so slightly, and I knew she would awaken before she actually did. Even two rooms away, my body was attuned to hers.
She was part of an important job, and I couldn’t afford to screw it up. Leylan couldn’t afford for me to screw it up. Even though I hated him for putting me in this situation, I wasn’t going to let him become Vacca’s next experiment—or worse—over a silly gambling debt blown out of proportion.
I winced again at the thought of the amount of money he owed Simmons, the director of the research group at Vacca. I didn’t even know my idiot brother could count so high.
My breath tumbled out of me in a sigh of resignation. That was a mistake, because when I gathered it again, my tongue became laced with her warm, green, fresh scent. And that spice-tinged underlying trace. I grit my teeth and forced myself to look out the windscreen instead. The endless, sprawling length of space hurtled past us and the timer on the dashboard blinked red: thirteen days, six hours, twenty-four minutes and thirty-one seconds until we reached Sentinel 5.
Too much time.
I was itching to get this over and done with quickly. It was an abhorrent task, and I teetered the line between hating myself for it and hating Leylan for putting me in this situation in the first place.
I sighed.
The girl’s small form was absolutely still at the entrance to the control room, her makeshift weapon raised over her head. In the darkness, the light between her eyes pulsed brightly.
She looked...stunned.
“Are you going to hit me with that thing or put it down? Your arm must be starting to hurt by now.”
“What did you—You said—”
My boots thudded loudly in the enclosed space as I let my feet fall from their perch over the control panel, swiveling fully in my chair to face her.
It was a mistake.
She looked every bit the avenging goddess, her fiery hair swirling around her frame like it was alive, the ends caressing the curves of her hips. Their waves were mesmerizing, the vibrant sunset hues flowing without restraint like it was trying to complement the green-fresh-spicy scent of her skin.
I had to take another breath, which didn’t help.
“I said, hit me or put it down.”
There was an unwelcome rasp in my voice.
“No.”
Her weapon—which I now noticed was a heavy pan pilfered from the food prep area—remained in the air.
“Before,” she continued. “You said I needed to turn off the torchlight on my forehead. What did you mean?”
I raised a brow. “As mods go, it’s not the oddest I’ve seen.”
“No!” It was almost a shout. The pan clattered on the floor as she strode towards me. “What. Did. You. Mean?”
The look in her eyes was almost feral, bright green flashing in the low light.
So I simply pointed to my own forehead. “You have a light right here. It’s white and round...kind of like a third eye.”
Her hands curled into fists. I heard the telltale sound of teeth grinding together as she bit out: “And you can see this light?”
I shrugged. What’s the big deal?
“What about Nero?” she asked, jaw tight with tension.
“What about him?”
“Her,” she corrected in a hiss. “What do you see when you look at her?”
Nero took that opportunity to appear in the doorway, peering in.
“I see a cat with a burst of white light on her forehead. It blinks from time to time—”
“Are you kidding me?”
This time, her voice was a shout, but she was looking at the ceiling and not at me.
My oversensitive ears almost curved in on themselves to protect me from the noise.
She swiveled back to me, so red with rage I thought she might actually make the only remaining light in the control room explode as well.
“No. Do you understand me? I refuse.” Her index finger poked into my shoulder, surprisingly hard. “I refuse you.”
Then she turned on her bare heel and walked out the door, leaving her beguiling scent behind in a huff.
Well. I ran a hand over my locs. So apparently, I’d been refused. Hell if I knew what that meant. Hell if I cared.
As the door to the bedroom slid shut with a rough snap, I turned back to the large, blinking control panel. Empty space whizzed past at an alarming speed, and although it seemed like we were headed nowhere tangible, the speedometer was clocking our mileage. The timer was counting down from fourteen days.
My fingers fell to my chest, rubbing at an odd ache that had settled there. An ache that seemed to amplify each time I interacted with the girl.
At first, it had merely been guilt, lodging itself in places that still yearned to bring justice to those who needed help. But now...now, I wasn’t too sure what these weird, intermingling emotions were. Regret? Anger? Frustration?
My mind wandered to an easier space, trying to relieve the tension in my chest. What if I’d met this girl at Solstice? Or any of the times I’d been on Royal One as a freelance Consultant for the corps? She wouldn’t have looked at me the way she did now, full of fire and helpless anger. No, perhaps she would’ve offered me a shy smile. A little invitation. An offer to spend the day together.
“Mrrw.”
A soft brush of fur against my forearm temporarily distracted me from a series of wishful thoughts. I looked down to find the little beast had jumped onto the pilot’s seat and was balancing on the high armrest, rubbing itself against me.
As I reached out to pet its head, it reared back and launched itself onto my shoulder, the loud motor-purr compromising the hearing in my right ear.
She wasn’t a large cat. When she set her butt on the back of my shoulders, it was a perfect fit. I chided her a little with a click of my tongue as she licked the ticklish shell of my ear, and she fell back, choosing instead to watch the endless expanse of space with me.
At least I’d have one friendly companion on this trip.
Chapter Seven
Kit
I didn’t see a thing as I rushed back into the room and shut the door behind me. I needed... I needed air. I needed space. Space away from her.
A strangled gasp left my lips as I tried to process what had just happened.
That’s why, I thought desperately. That’s why my magic didn’t work on her.
I swallowed, the dry sound echoing in the small room.
’Cause she was mine.
That very thought felt wrong in my head. I pushed my way into the sanitizer, spitting into the sink as my people do to rid themselves of bad energy.
But I didn’t feel better.
I looked at my reflection in the viewer, taking in the little cuts on my forehead and the red mark on my neck where the axapa dart had hit me. She’d brought me nothing but pain since the moment I’d met her.
Surely... The word rose in prayer to Maga. Surely you don’t think this is the person for me.
My fingers gripped the edge of the sink until my knuckles turned white.
I thought about the years I’d spent daydreaming about the person the Goddess would send me. They’d be kind, loving, patient. We’d find love and happiness in one another like my parents and grandparents had. A calm, peaceful existence blessed by Maga.
We did things differently in our tribe, which was why we’d chosen the Eighth Star—several hours’ journey from Royal One—to create our little settlement. Maga was found in nature, and the Eighth Star’s abundance of greenery had attracted my ancestors. They’d built little houses into the nooks and crannies of heavy trees, winding the magic of life into the previously unpopulated Star.
What started off as a small settlement of over a hundred people now flourished with thousands. We weren’t a closed Star like many others in the Cluster, and people had flocked to us for nature tourism—some had even decided to stay after falling in love with the land, the people. A number of my friends had even taken Mates outside the tribe.
