TERRA (The Elements Series Book 2) Page 4

  "It's all right, I've got you," Tieg says, the solid bar of his Skyboard engineered teeth exposed in a knowing smile, which makes my blood turn to ice. His narrow, unnatural blue eyes seem to glow against the dirt smeared angles of his face, and his long arms tighten like a vice around my ribs as he looks down at me. "I knew you'd eventually see what a chutz Hart is," he says quietly, which sends a blanket of chills over my skin.

  My teeth start chattering again before I can say anything in protest. I try pushing back from him, but the suffocating panic of not being able to get enough oxygen saps my efforts, then breaks my resolve altogether.

  "I can't…breathe…" I manage, trying to focus my blurring vision. Tieg relaxes his hold, but still doesn't let me go.

  "Sorry," he says through a laugh, then raises an eyebrow and tightens his arms around me again. "Come here…you're shivering," he says, his voice sounding far away even though he's just inches from me. I need to get out of here…why am I so cold?

  "Spaulding—" Liddick says in a low, rigid voice that startles me as the blur of him comes into view off of Tieg's shoulder. "Help me with this so Dez can refill her water. I tripped…snagged it right out of her sleeve and can't connect it again. She's up ahead by the stream with the others," he adds, holding up something in his hand.

  "Mollusk, that's talent. Those are secured in three places," Tieg growls, then turns back to me. "To be continued," he whispers before finally letting me go. The sudden lack of anything in front of me to brace against sends a jolt through my knees, and they almost buckle. Tieg snatches whatever Liddick is holding from his hand and shoves past him, knocking into his shoulder. Liddick stumbles back, then crosses to me.

  "Are you all right? He's gone…just breathe, it's OK…" Liddick says, brushing away the damp hair clinging to my face, but before I can respond, a bright light shines in his eyes, and I hear Arco's voice.

  "What happened? Jazz?"

  "Damnit, Hart, kill the sun!" Liddick nearly yells. "She just got tripped up coming out of the squeeze. Everything is fine," he continues, dropping his hands from my face when Arco walks up behind us. "Everyone is up at the stream topping off their desalinators. Come on," Liddick adds, squeezing my hand before stepping back from me, but now his voice sounds far away too.

  "Are you OK?" Arco asks, shining his light down over me, which hurts my eyes. He turns it off, and I shake my head to bring him into focus as his arm moves over my shoulder, drawing me into him.

  He's still coming down from worrying about me with you, so don't tell him yet about what Spaulding just pulled until I can figure out what that was all about, Liddick thinks, but I can't find him when I look around. Anyway, Hart is already paranoid, and he needs to get back to leading this thing. You know I've got your back, all right? Don't worry, he adds. I hear him, but now his words sound muffled, and my head starts spinning as I try to put everything into perspective again. Rip? Liddick asks in my head again. I should say something in answer, but I can't seem to pull any words together.

  Everything starts to feel like it's in slow motion…my heart has stopped hammering in my chest, and my teeth have even stopped chattering. Only the buzzing in my ears has picked up as I take a few steps toward the twinkling lights in the distance where Liddick was heading, but they're slowly going out. Is this Azeris's signal…or Vox? I think as the blur swallows everything and the room starts to spin.

  "Dez!" Arco says from somewhere under the buzzing resonating in my ears, and suddenly, I feel weightless as the walls start glowing blue like in the air bell—like in my dream.

  "Right here! Put her down!" Dez's voice is so much closer than Arco's. I look around for her, but can only see fuzzy shapes and mottled light. "Ellis! It's her nanites—help me sync her suit with the upgrade…I can't believe I forgot to do it before we left!"

  "Hart, look out," Ellis says before everything goes completely dark. I start to feel like I'm floating again, but then I clearly see Vox sitting next to me, her wild yellow-green eyes narrowed as she shakes her head at me in mock reproach.

  Sarin said you always had to be the center of attention. I'm starting to think she was right. Get up, sand dollar. Breathe.

  Vox? Where are you? How are you messaging me? We're coming to find you and Fraya, I promise.

  I know. Breathe, Jazz.

  Is Fraya all right? I think as Vox starts to fade. Wait! I call to her in my mind, but she just keeps disappearing until finally, she's gone.

  "Jazz!" Arco's voice is loud now and close to my ear.

  "Hart, back the hell up!" Ellis shouts from somewhere just as close. "All right, it's sequenced, but it will time out in a few minutes without more oxygen," he adds.

  "Then I'll lock the channel now. Myra, epinephrine sequence three, vein eight arterial on my mark. Ready?" Dez asks, and I feel someone pressing on the inside of my forearm.

  "Ready!"

  "Now!"

  "Is it working?" Jax calls from somewhere high above me, his deep voice resonating like a bell, which makes my head hurt and my heart beat twice as fast.

  "It's skipping…she needs to take in more breath for it to align. Myra, again…now!" Dez shouts.

  Rip…I thought it was just claustrophobia back there, and then Spaulding all over you…crite…can you hear me? Liddick thinks, but his voice sounds the farthest away of all.

  Liddick…

  Yes! he laughs. Listen to me, you have to breathe. You have to take a big breath, just one…in and out, all right? You need to do it right now, Rip.

  It's too tight. The walls…I answer as my heartbeat slows and merges into one low hum.

  The walls are gone now…you made it through. We're on the dune and there's nothing but sky forever. Take a breath. Rip, damnit, take a breath!

  "Dez, come on!" Arco shouts.

  "I'm trying! Please, you have to back up!"

  "Let me help you, Hart."

  "Tieg, let him go! Crite, I can't do this now!"

  "Joss, get his arm!" I hear Jax's voice again from farther away now. They're all getting farther away.

  Rip! Remember that day you got stung by the jellyfish? Remember how I dared you to swim underwater with me? Take a deep breath and jump in with me now. Come on. Everyone else is a jelly.

  Liddick…you said the fish glowed at night.

  That's right. And nobody believed me, remember? But they wouldn't come find out. Don't be a jelly like them—come on, and I'll show you. Take a deep breath, and we'll jump, OK? We'll go together. One…two…take a deep breath now, Rip! Three!

  And I do, but it hurts. It feels like I'm pulling water into my lungs instead of air, and it's sharp in my chest when I choke on it.

  "OK, it's aligned! Sponge the epi', Myra, she can do it on her own now, just give her a second. Jazz, if you can hear me, you're going to feel a lot better in a minute."

  "Dez?" I hear myself say—at least I think I do—but I can't see her.

  "Yes! Yes, it's Dez! Just be still. Don't try to talk or move. I upgraded your nanites to your dive suit. They're syncing now so it can regulate your climatizer, OK? You went hypothermic because your old ones were too slow to keep up with your suit for this long."

  "She's OK? Dez, is she OK?"

  "Arco?" I ask, my voice sounding muffled. I try to open my eyes, but they're still too heavy. "Arco, it's all right. Don't be afraid," I say, but the words feel like gravel in my throat.

  "Jazz…Crite…" he says at the end of a breath.

  Riptide, Liddick thinks, and I outwardly hear him chuckle. You're just brass.

  "She's all right, Dez? It worked?" I hear Jax again, closer now, and I know it's his hand closing over mine as I try to grip it to let him know I'm OK.

  "Yes, she just needs a minute," Dez answers, and I hear Jax exhale just before my chest starts to ache again, but not like before. It's not the same kind of pain.

  Liddick? I think.

  Hart's right there, he answers. Or I would—

  They did glow, Liddick. The fish. I saw the
m. I never told you, but I saw them, I interrupt, then open my eyes, and his face is the first I see. He's standing behind Dez with one arm wrapped around his stomach and his other hand extending up to cover his mouth and chin like he's some old philosopher pondering the universe. He blinks several times when he meets my eyes, and I see the smile escaping from the thumb and forefinger sentinels he has stationed at the corners of his mouth, keeping him back, keeping him unattached. He shakes his head almost imperceptibly as a laugh starts in his eyes.

  Arco's arm slides under my shoulders and lifts me against him. He pushes the damp hairs off my cheeks, and my chest swells again, this time, with relief.

  "I can breathe, and it's warmer," I say, noticing that the cold running through me is gone now.

  "You'll be good as new in about 10 minutes once everything finishes syncing," Dez says, smiling in front of me. "I'm so sorry, Jazz. I should have remembered that Dame Mahgi said your nanites needed to be upgraded…I should have remembered before we ever left," she adds, her blonde eyebrows darting together as tears glass her bioengineered crystal blue eyes, and I feel the stab of her guilt and anxiety low in my chest.

  "I forgot too," I say, trying to nod. "A lot was going on, but I feel better now. Thank you," I say, trying to smile as wide as I can as I reach out for Dez and lean my head against Arco's chest. She takes my hand and squeezes it, and I can feel her guilt lifting.

  Myra kneels next to me and pushes the rest of my hair out of my face, then brings my desalinator tube up to my mouth.

  "Take a drink, OK?" she says, the smile crinkling the corners of her wide blue eyes. I take a sip, and the rest of the gravel in my throat washes away.

  CHAPTER 6

  Paths

  The walls around us now have an eerie white and yellow glow just like the first cave we'd entered on our training run with the Stingrays back at Gaia, and all the rock formations look poured and set like something melted, then solidified. If I let my eyes fix on them too long, they almost look like they're moving as we walk by, and I wonder if there is still something wrong with my vision even after the nanite upgrade.

  "Crite, you scared the hell out of me back there. Why didn't you tell me you were getting so cold?" Arco asks, shaking his head.

  "I thought everyone was cold, and then things just, I don't know, fell out of focus I guess."

  "Well, can you tell me next time if something is off?" he asks, and I raise an eyebrow at him. "What? Jazz, I'm your…" he says, trailing off with a smile.

  "My what?"

  "Your…team leader," he stumbles around a pause, then laughs it off as I raise my eyebrows and nod at him. "Of course. What did you think I meant?" he asks with a smirk.

  "Right, no, of course," I nod again, closing my mouth in an enlightened smile. "And what about your ribs?"

  "They're good as new, thanks to you."

  "I didn't do anything. That was the nanites."

  "You wrapped them. Made me sleep instead of what I would have rather—"

  "All right…" I cut him off before he can finish the thought, then feel a warm flush hit my cheeks as I remember him pulling me against him in the small cave. "Everyone will hear you."

  "Good," he says, chuckling, and I roll my eyes as Jax falls back and starts walking with us.

  "You still OK?" he asks, throwing an arm around me. I nod and lean into him. "I'm sorry I was such a chutz earlier," he adds as a heavy feeling drapes over me. "I just can't believe Pitt is really gone."

  "I know. I can still see it all, but it really was no one's fault, Jax, just like you told Tieg. You have to stop blaming yourself too."

  He sighs. "I'll work on it," he answers after a beat, then raises an eyebrow as his mouth slowly pulls to one side. "That is, if you can manage to avoid having any more medical crises down here?"

  "I'll work on it," I reply, and he grins.

  Do the walls look like they're shifting to you? Liddick's voice registers in my head.

  You see it too? I thought I was still fried, I answer, and he trots a few steps ahead to Ellis.

  "Raj, what's with these walls?"

  "What are you talking about?" Ellis asks, glancing down at the Nav system strapped to his arm.

  "They're just limestone," Avis adds, crossing to them.

  "You don't see them wavering? Like a heat mirage or something over them?" Liddick asks.

  "Let me scan you," Dez says, rifling through her medical bag as she catches up to him.

  "No, it's not just me. Jazz sees it too," he says, and Arco fires a shocked look at me as he holds out a hand.

  I shrink into my shoulders and give him an innocent smile. "Sorry, I forgot about that," I mouth to him, and he rolls his eyes with a sigh.

  "Nothing is coming up," Ellis adds, scanning the walls with his Nav system.

  "Drink some water," Dez says, "maybe you're both getting dehydrated."

  "I'm all right. It's not that," Liddick answers, shaking his head, then rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands.

  "Do you even know where we're going?" Tieg barks back to Arco from somewhere up ahead.

  "We're following the sweep map—Avis, how far are we loaded?" he answers, jogging a few steps up to him to look at the extended readout Avis has been trying to load.

  "In the overview, it looks like the destination ping came back about eighteen miles in and down. Our next three miles look a lot like this," he says, showing the screen on his arm to Arco, then looking back at everyone else. "Sorry, that's as far as I can get the ground feed to show at one time. But hey, at least we're out of that squeeze back there."

  "Can you still hear the buzzing?" Arco calls back to me, and I nod.

  "It's not as strong as it was before, but I can still hear it."

  "And you?" he angles his head toward Liddick.

  "It's the same."

  "Then we just keep moving forward," Arco says, "if you're sure the sound is connected to the signals somehow."

  "I know it is," I answer, then take a breath, trying to figure out how to bring up what I saw after I came out of the squeeze without dredging up the tension that accompanied it. After a second, I decide it's probably best just to say it. "I saw Vox again—when I was…under."

  Arco's eyes dart to mine as everyone slows down to listen.

  "Did she talk to you?" Ellis asks, turning to walk backward so he can see me.

  "Not about where to go, but she tried to help me. I just don't know if I was imagining her, or if she was really there somehow. Port-call projected or something…it felt like that in my dream. Like she was actually there."

  "Maybe it was a little bit of both—some kind of uplink like in Plume's office. You said the images fried when you lost focus, right?" Arco asks, starting to make his way back to my side.

  "That's what I was starting to wonder too. But how could it have bypassed Plume? I was the only one who could see the lab with Rheen and Styx, and how they filled Lyden's containment box with water, and when the fire—" I stop myself, but not soon enough. The muscles in Arco's jaw jump as he clenches his teeth, and I feel like someone has punched me in the stomach. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring that up."

  "It's all right," he says, looking toward the limestone wall the way he looked out on the ocean when we were walking home from our Gaia interviews topside, and I know he's fighting again to understand what Rheen could have done to his sister to make her immune to flames shooting up her legs. Why does he think he always has to process the hard things by himself?

  "We're going to find them," I say, but he just forces a smile when he crosses to close the gap between us.

  "They might just find us," Liddick says, walking up from behind me and cutting Arco off. "I just realized something."

  "Wright!" Arco growls after he almost runs into Liddick.

  "Rip, the buzzing is still here because it's not the same buzzing. It's not as high-pitched. Have you noticed?" Liddick asks, and as I listen, I realize he's right.

  "It is quieter," I agree, "b
ut if it's not the same, where is it coming from?"

  "Azeris. He opened a neural channel to us. I just got his signature confirmation."

  "Azeris? How?" I ask as Arco crosses behind us and moves to my other side.

  "He started working on it that night we heard the marlin—when I went to see him after I found out you heard it too. Hart, your piggyback code was the last piece he needed to trace enough of the ping to figure out how my brothers and Jazz's dad hacked into Gaia's mainframe—into my particular mainframe. Reader empaths, Rip—we're the same. That's why you heard the marlin message that night too."

  "You said you'd been getting those messages for years. Why hasn't she heard them all along too if you're so much alike?" Arco balks.

  "If she would have gone into any virtuo-cines, she'd have probably seen the others just like I did. That's the only time the messages ever showed up for me before Rheen put this bracelet on me. You said yourself they did something to us—kicked something on inside after they were clamped on in our interviews. How else did you know how to break into Gaia's mainframe that night and code that Lincoln program in the Records room…all before we ever left shore?" Liddick responds, and Arco's eyes narrow.

  "Vox is a Reader too. Does that mean she heard the marlin?" I ask, my mind suddenly racing. That would explain why she seemed to be targeting me with her unblinking stares the rest of that night, and even after we arrived. She saw me tweak at the port-festival, and must have known why. Maybe she just wanted to find out how we were connected.

  "I don't know if her Nav Hybrid classification instead of Coder Hybrid like us would have shut her out or not, but yeah, there's a good chance she heard it too, at least some of it," Liddick says.

  "OK stop—so Azeris is talking to you right now?"Arco asks, shaking his head.

  "In a way. The wavy walls, Rip. Look again," Liddick says, extending his arm and pointing at the lines in the rock face just ahead of us. I follow his trajectory, and as I focus my eyes, I see that the lines actually do morph into an A that repeats over and over again, shifting as we walk and spanning from the ground to the ceiling.