Grace and Shadow (2 page)

Imgrace was absorbing that when she started shivering again. It was turning into a very odd day.

Shadow brought out a suit, and he set it next to her on the couch. “This should help you with your body-heat issues.”

Imgrace took the scarlet suit and pulled it onto her lap. “Thank you. Is there somewhere I can change?”

Three arms pointed down a hall, and she got to her feet, shrugging off the blanket and following the muttered directions that Link gave her.

She peeled off her outer tunic and then worked off her neck-to-toe bodysuit. The red suit was definitely thicker, and when she eased it up over her hips, she felt the warmth. When she wedged it up over her shoulders, she experienced the peculiar effect of her breasts being squashed flat. The suit was cut deeply, but her cleavage was compressed to nothing. She hadn’t been this flat since she was eleven.

She reached into her shirt pocket and pulled out a hair band, pulling her hair away from her face. It was a little lumpy, but it was better than her yellow locks getting all wild during whatever was on the roster next. As a good citizen, she would always cooperate with the Guardians.

Imgrace walked out of the lav with her normal clothing folded over her arm. The Guardians all jumped to their feet when she entered the comfortable space.

Shadow frowned, and he sent a cloud of darkness that wrapped her from neck to knees.

“What is that for?” she looked down and tried to focus on walking toward them.

Link chuckled. “You are much curvier than the woman who was supposed to wear that suit. I think your cleavage is distressing him.”

Shadow scowled, but he kept her obscured.

She walked up to them. “I don’t see why. This suit flattened the hell out of me. Who was it intended for?”

“Psifer. She declined her post as a Guardian and is now baking muffins somewhere in the northern territories.” Link smiled. “We still had the suit, and you were the same height if not the same structure.”

She snickered. “Fine, but the suit covers everything. He can drop the shadows.”

Walking Shadow tensed his jaw. “I do not like the way they are looking at you.”

Imgrace shook her head. “Looks are just looks. Tell me what you need me to do.”

Link nodded. “Let’s do the briefing in the boardroom.”

She followed him with Shadow and Shatter walking behind her. For a moment, she was glad for the shadows.

The boardroom had no windows, so when Link dimmed the lights, the image of the globe appeared with the orbital station and the moons in the projection.

Link grimaced. “For centuries, we have been holding the most dangerous members of our society on the lunar base, not because it is convenient but because they have no powers there. A Jrematan loses their power here.” He pointed at a line that covered the planet.

“Where do I come in?”

“A guess has been made that a void might act as an anchor to Jremat. We would like to test that with a short jaunt that could make the difference between being able to defend our people and defend our system. Guardians have been hobbled to our world, and with encroaching species and illegal activities in our system, we need to expand our reach.”

Imgrace nodded. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Shadow and Shatter will come with you on the shuttle, and Shadow will do some experiments with you to see if you can spark his talent at the designated distance from the surface.”

Imgrace blinked. “Oh, damn. I need to call work.”

Link smiled. “I already contacted the office. You are on leave until the weekend and helping us with an inquiry.”

“Right.” Of course, no one questioned the Guardians.

Shatter showed her the space suit that she was to wear. He helped her into it, and when he adjusted the closures, it pressed in on her, snugging against her form.

The helmet was in case of emergency, but he made her practice snapping it on and taking it off until he was sure she could do it in seconds.

She licked her lips. “Why won’t you be trying to activate your power in space?”

He grinned as he turned her helmet over in his hands and did a final adjustment. “I vibrate objects. That is not a safe activity for someone in a shuttle.”

“Oh, right.”

He chuckled. “You tend to dismiss a person’s talent, don’t you?”

“I do. Since it is not something I can empathize with, I have to look past it. I have to focus on the people behind the power. I forget that for them, it is social standing, a job, the means to feed their families. I forget it because I have to.”

She met his gaze, and he nodded in understanding. He smiled and handed her her helmet. “Let’s get to the shuttle.”

She tucked the helmet under her arm and followed him down the hall toward the back of the base. Shadow was already at the controls, a silvery suit over his matte-black one. Shatter helped her into a seat and gave her an ear com. Link would remain on the ground and speak to them, talking Imgrace through the exercises they had designed to test if a void could work in space.

She curled her fingers around the arms of her seat and held on as they lifted straight up before spearing up through the atmosphere.

Spaceflight was not something offered to many of her people and, certainly, never to someone in her situation. She focused on breathing until her limbs lifted in her seat.

Shatter laughed. “Link thought that this would be easier for you in zero gravity, so we have stopped the ship’s rotation and are on a trajectory to take us past the moon.”

Shadow unbuckled his harness and pulled himself out, extending his hand to her. “If you come with me, we can get your legs back on solid land quickly.”

Imgrace blinked. “You are powerless now?”

He nodded. “I am. I can feel it, like I am an empty bucket. A lot of potential and nothing to fill me.”

She undid the harness that Shatter had helped her with. “I don’t feel any different.”

“Lucky you.”

When she was free, he took her helmet and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Here we go.”

She had been instructed to remain limp, and it was good advice. He moved quickly through the ship until they were in a wide cargo hold.

Imgrace floated to a series of handholds in the ceiling and gripped two of them. “Now what?”

Link whispered in her ear, “Do you feel any different?”

“Not really. I feel like me, just a little jumpier. That could be my surroundings.”

Link murmured, “Shadow, do you feel anything?”

Shadow had his feet tucked into a strap on the floor. “Nope.”

“Get closer to her.”

Shadow approached, floating gently toward her. She stared at him as he neared her and held her breath. He pinned her to the ceiling and kept his body as close to hers as he could without touching.

“Anything?”

Shadow’s lips twisted in a small smile. “Not anything power related.”

Imgrace blushed, and she turned her head away, but not before she saw a flicker of shadow. She gasped, he jerked and the shadow receded.

“What?”

Shadow smiled slightly. “There was a power surge. It was small, but it was there.”

“Imgrace, what did you feel?”

She blinked, inches away from Shadow. “Embarrassed and interested in equal measure.”

Shadow grinned.

“Imgrace, I know this is asking a lot, but can you kiss him? I promise that he won’t react.”

Shadow chuckled. “I can’t make that promise, but I won’t touch you or molest you in any way.”

Imgrace couldn’t get much more embarrassed, so she kissed Shadow before he could say something else witty and humiliating.

He locked in place while she kissed him, and she felt a rush of warmth through her limbs. Shadows danced in the periphery of her nearly closed lids, and when she pulled her lips from his, he floated away with his shadows snapping and crackling.

Shadow was talking through the open com. “It worked. I can use my talent.”

He flipped end over end and used his talent for half an hour. Imgrace made her way to the floor and floated toward the door. When his battery ran out, she was near the exit, and she felt the power drain from him.

He turned to her and grinned. “Can you do it again?”

Imgrace was embarrassed. “I suppose I could, but I will go and wait with Shatter while you play.”

He paused. “Is something wrong?”

She swallowed. “No, I am sure everything is fine.”

Link’s calm voice said, “Get to your seat, Imgrace, we will return you to the surface.”

She nodded. “Thank you. Can I go home now?”

“We would like to run a few more experiments, but the next round will not require you leaving the base.”

“Good. When can I go home?” She tried not to sound plaintive, but she was out of her element.

“Just a few more trials, Imgrace. Relax, you are in no danger.”

She pulled herself through the halls until Shadow caught up with her. He wrapped his arm around her and kicked off, spiralling them in a straight line toward the control centre.

He helped her settle in her chair and did up the harness.

Shatter gave her a thumbs-up. “We are heading home now. Just relax and it will soon be over.”

She settled in and closed her eyes. She heard Shadow murmuring, but her com was off. The two men chatted with Link as they lined the shuttle up for re-entry. Imgrace felt the change in the angle and the pressure of gravity once again. They were heading home, but she still had more to do before they would let her go. Her civic duty had never been more personal.

Link had a tray of beverages ready for them, and he handed one to Imgrace the moment she came in. “You did very well. Shadow now has the most powered time of the Jremat out of orbit on record.”

Shadow smiled. “And what a way to get my power back.”

Imgrace felt ill. She swayed and Link caught her. “Come with me; you need to lie down.”

She nodded, and she let Link lead her away from the others, settling in a guestroom and he closed the door.

The privacy was her undoing. The moment he closed the door, she started to sob; her attempts to hold it in gave way, and she cried. Her first kiss and it had been an experiment with a man who had talented women throwing themselves at him day and night. She had never felt so used in her life.

Link heard the sobs through the headpiece Imgrace still wore. He winced and returned to the others. “Boardroom, now.”

Inside the room, he brought up an image of Imgrace, and it rotated slowly as power readings came out. “This was when you felt the flicker. This is what happened when she kissed you.”

The entire schematic of the body lit up and energy flowed out of her.

Shadow grinned. “Imagine what would happen if we did more than kiss.”

Link slammed his hand down on the table. “So’orn, this is serious and you are going to listen. I did that research you asked for, and I found that Imgrace Kelart has never had a relationship with anyone. No male, no female. She fears talents, she isn’t in awe of you, she is afraid of you.”

Shadow lifted the lens of his helmet, and he stared at Link. “Afraid of me? Why?”

Shatter answered. “It isn’t just you. She is vulnerable, and some would consider it sport to kill her and claim it was an accident. She knows it. She can’t have a relationship because what is the first thing that we tell each other?”

Shadow scowled. “What our power is, what our rating is, what our job is. And she has no answers for those questions.”

Link shook his head. “No, there is no answer for her. I also looked into her family history. It is worse.”

Shadow blinked. “Worse?”

“She was diagnosed as a void; her parents set her up with a bot tutor and immediately applied for permission to have another child. Permission was granted without hesitation and that is chilling. They had their second daughter; she was tested when she was three and found to have a combined talent of both children. At the age of twelve, Imgrace was put into an apartment with a bot and an automated caretaker and left to grow up on her own. She has three degrees and is eighty percent of the way to nine more. She hasn’t seen her family in fourteen years, and they have no interest in her.”

Shadow looked at the replay of the woman filling with power that she had given to him. “And she doesn’t date.”

“It could be worth her life to try it. I am pretty sure that that was her first kiss and you made jokes about it.”

Shadow winced. “I will apologise.”

Link held up his hand. “No. She can’t know that we looked into her history. Trust me; girls don’t like that sort of thing.”

Link could see So’orn going over his behaviour and not liking what he remembered.

“Right, casual encounters might go with the job, but she isn’t one of the women who chase us. She just wants to be left alone, and I can only say that the manifestation of her abilities is distressing for her. She has to kiss a talent to spark their power to life again at close range. It is her worst nightmare.”

Shadow sat down. “What can we do? What can I do?”

“Well, tomorrow is you trying to activate biological samples transported from the ground past orbit. She will be able to sit here and visit with me. If the samples don’t activate, I will have her try to do it through her biological link.”

Shadow perked up. “Can she do that?”

“We will find out tomorrow if nothing else takes us from our studies.”

Shatter nodded. “Good plan. I am up for some sleep, so I will tune in for a bit and then get some rest. See you two tomorrow.”

Link nodded and Shatter left. Link closed the display and crossed his arms. “Any questions?”

So’orn opened his mouth and snapped it shut. Finally, he said, “I was flirting with her, and she was freezing up on me. I didn’t stop, and I should have stopped. There was nowhere for her to go. How do I undo what I did?”

“You may have frightened her, but you didn’t threaten or assault her. Her rational mind will explain your behaviour to her, but if you want more from her, you need to temper your actions going forward.”