Shadowstorm (Sorcery and Science Book 6) (25 page)

Ariella frowned. “You’re right. I fear we’ve only just scratched the surface of this.” She shifted her position until she was sitting cross-legged, facing Terra. “Now tell me what you’ve been doing.”

Terra told her everything they’d discovered about the Xenen artifacts, which didn’t take long. Truth be told, it wasn’t much.

“Have you thought about tracking down Lady Cassandra?” Ariella asked.

“I wouldn’t know where to start. She’s probably deep inside the Avan Empire, and I have no way of finding her. Even with an accentuating serum, I wouldn’t have enough Phantom power to track her resonance. I don’t think even Jason could do it from this distance.”

“She’s probably in Solarin,” Ariella said. “But I wouldn’t suggest that either of you go there. You would be delivering two elite Elitions right into the hands of an empire that is neck-deep in experimenting on us. Plus, Solarin is…a dangerous, vicious place. It’s worse than Orion. Last year, Davin, Everett, and I barely escaped the city.”

“One of these days, you’re going to have to tell me what happened there.”

“I will. But I should warn you. The story is rife with mechanical menaces.”

“Aren’t they all?” Terra sighed. But she would take Selpe or Avan mechanical menaces over Xenen ones any day. “About Lady Cassandra—maybe I’ll give finding her a try. If we combine Cameron’s memory tracking ability with the Phantom…”

Terra opened her bag and pulled out a vial half full of dark brown liquid. It was her latest try at the Triad serum. After talking it over with Cameron, they’d decided on only one serving each of the Prior and Phantom accentuating elements and one of the Prophet stimulant. Cameron’s guess was that since she already had the three abilities inside of her, the full dose was overpowering them to the point that her mind couldn’t handle the power of wielding more than one simultaneously. He suggested cutting the dose in half might fix that problem. Terra didn’t have any better ideas, so it was worth a shot. Her potion-making skills weren’t nearly as good as Cameron’s anyway.

“What’s that?” Ariella asked.

“A serum that’s supposed to make me a Triad, at least temporarily.”

Ariella stared into the murky liquid. “It doesn’t look too appetizing. Not that I’m surprised. Triads aren’t exactly famous for their stellar personalities.”

Terra laughed. It was a real laugh, and it felt good. “It’s not so bad actually. Hazelnuts, Winter’s Mint, and chocolate.”

“That doesn’t sound bad,” agreed Ariella. “Especially the chocolate part. Chocolate makes everything taste better.”

“Precisely.” Terra uncorked the vial. “So now that the last batch is out of my system, I’m going to try this one. If it works, I’ll be able to wield the powers of Memory, Vision, and Prophecy all at once.”

“And if it doesn’t work?”

“Then I’ll end up with one enormous headache.”

She lifted up the vial, pouring its contents down her throat. Just like last time, the serum took effect immediately. Terra could feel the energy of the three powers buzzing beneath her skin, itching to get out. The question was: had it really worked this time? She swung her legs out and jumped off the rock.

“Where are you going?” Ariella asked her.

“To go test the serum.”

“How will you do that?”

“Easy.” Terra looked over her shoulder to grin at Ariella. “I’m going to challenge Jason to a fight.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

~
Triple Threat ~

527AX January 18, Woods Outside Lear

AS THEY WALKED back toward the others, Terra’s mind dwelt on Lady Cassandra. Ariella was right. They should have tried to track her down. They still could, after they got the last of the artifacts. Or maybe they needn’t even bother. Lord Varen’s island had proved inaccessible, even for teams of elite Selpe or Avan soldiers. Even for Elitions.

All because of the Varenese Elitions. No one knew where they’d come from or why they were so powerful. It was one of the world’s mysteries. To be honest, Terra wasn’t exactly itching to solve that mystery. She knew Pyre pretty well. He was a tough man, and yet even he hadn’t made it off the island unscathed.

The trees rolled past her eyes, every ripple and curve of their bark vivid and clear, every shadow harsh. She blinked down, but the odd high-contrast mask didn’t fade or soften. Lady Cassandra stepped out from behind a tree, a haughty smile on her coral lips. She was dressed in layers of crimson silk and gold lace. Her dark curls bounced against the back of her dress as she turned to look behind her.

A telephone was ringing. Terra couldn’t see it, but she could hear the shrill, artificial screech. Lady Cassandra reached down, and a slender device, white and rectangular, appeared in her hand.

“Yes?” she spoke into the phone. Her voice was crisp—so crisp that the sharpness of it scratched against Terra’s eardrums.

“It’s done,” said a man’s voice on the other end. “The Selpes should be getting the reports now.”

Lady Cassandra turned on the television. Terra recognized the images of exploding glass and steel. She’d seen those buildings crumble and fall a thousand times over. She’d seen the people die even more times than that. Decia. She averted her eyes from the screen, looking instead at Lady Cassandra’s face.

“I trust you will take care of the Avans,” the man said.

“Neither they nor the Selpes know about the device. And I’ll make sure it stays that way.”

As the phone vanished from her hand, Aaron appeared before her. He was dressed in his Diamond Edge uniform, but none of his men were with him. He and Lady Cassandra were alone in the living room of his old apartment in Orion.

“You’ve heard of the attack on Decia?” she asked him. Her gloved hands smoothed down a wrinkle in her gown.

Aaron frowned. “A cowardly attack. The attackers never even showed their faces.”

“What have you learned?”

“A series of bombs were planted along the support structures of many of the city’s tallest buildings. Other bombs were placed in the underground system. One hour ago, they all went off. Most of Decia crumbled in a matter of minutes.”

“Who was responsible?”

“As I said, the attackers never showed their faces. They planted the bombs in secret, and they left in secret. There were no threats, no demands, no boasts. Nothing.”

“You have no suspects? None at all?” The indignation in Lady Cassandra’s tone was convincing—or it would have been had Terra not known she was full of it.

Aaron’s eyes narrowed in agitation. “The Avans are the most logical suspect, but their bombs are not that powerful. At least they aren’t supposed to be. Perhaps, they’ve been experimenting.”

“So you are going to tell the Advisory Council that it was the Avans?”

“It wasn’t the Avans. I had the researchers at Orion Explosives take a look at a few debris samples. They said the bombs that destroyed Decia are many decades ahead of anything we or the Avans have. So even if the Avans have been experimenting lately, it’s basically impossible that they’ve made it that far in their designs.” He locked his arms across his chest. “To tell the truth, I don’t know what I’m going to tell the Council.”

“You will tell them exactly what you told me,” said Lady Cassandra. “Unfortunately, that won’t appease the Selpe people in the aftermath of such a horrible tragedy. You’ve heard of the rioting?”

“Yes, people are demanding blood.”

“And if we don’t give it to them, they’ll take it for themselves,” she said.

“What are you suggesting?”

“I’m not suggesting anything. But you’re a smart man. That’s why Adrian put you in charge of the Diamond Edges.” She gave him a saccharine smile. “The Selpe people need someone to blame. You figure it out.” She turned to leave, then stopped to give him a final parting glance. “The Emperor is more likely to take the suggestion if it doesn’t come from the military or the aristocracy. Old Ambrose is under the impression that we’re all both blood-thirsty and power-hungry.”

Aaron’s living room warped into the inside of the sports complex beside the Orion imperial palace. Lady Cassandra looked down on a gym hall, where Aaron stood with Davin. There was no one else there, but their voices were still lowered to a crisp whisper.

“The riots are getting out of control,” Aaron said. “King River needs to think about pulling back all Elitions to Elitia, at least until things have settled down.”

“He was thinking the same thing. He believes it’s only inevitable that we’ll be targeted, even though everyone knows it was bombs that destroyed Decia, not magic.”

“Rational thought tends to fly out the window when emotions are running raw.” Aaron lowered his voice further. “But I think there’s a way out of this.”

“Which is?”

“The Selpe people need someone to blame. If we don’t give them someone, they’ll pick themselves. And you know how much they fear Elitions.”

Davin’s eyes drifted up in thought. “I know.” He met Aaron’s calculating stare. “You want to place the blame on the Revs.”

Aaron’s face was devoid of emotion, the perfect soldier. “Better them than Elitia.”

Davin laced his fingers together. “What do you want me to do?”

The memory faded out, the brightly-lit gym dissolving away to trees and dark shadows. Terra’s body jolted back, and she hit something. When she looked back, she saw Ariella holding to her arm.

“Are you all right?” she asked Terra.

“Sure. Fine.”

“You almost smacked face-first into that tree.”

Terra looked at the tree. The ripples of the bark had softened from harsh to simply clear. The power that had pushed itself to the forefront had retreated for the time being. She hoped it would still be there when she needed it.

“I had a memory,” she said, then told Ariella everything she’d seen.

“Lady Cassandra is even more devious than we’d thought,” she said when Terra was done. “Not only did she betray the Selpes, she’s keeping secrets from the Avans. But why? What is she planning?”

Terra shook her head. “I don’t know. But it’s clear now that she was in some way involved in the attack on Decia—and in manipulating the Selpes to attack the Revs. Everett will want to know that.”

Ariella chewed on her lip but said nothing more as they walked the rest of the way to the others. When they arrived back at camp, Jason and Everett were muttering together, and Cameron was standing opposite the scientist and the spy, his eyes wide.

“I’ve seen you before,” he told the spy. “You’re the Selpe spy who stole the Xenen artifact from Morton Corse.”

* * *

527AX January 18, Woods Outside Lear

Everett’s eyes shot to the spy. “Is this true?”

Leonidas Chase looked at his companion, then back at Everett. “I assume you’re referring to the piece of
advanced technology I stole from Corse last spring. Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I was in possession of it for less than half an hour. A pair of Elitions stole it from me.”

“We know that,” said Cameron.

“Do you also happen to know what they did with it?”

“We do.” Terra stepped forward, extending her hand to the spy. “I’m Terra Cross.”

His eyes widened, a spark of recognition in them. “I’ve seen the posters.” He shook her hand. “Leonidas Chase. And is it weird to be jealous that your bounty is a whole lot higher than mine?”

“Yes, it really is, Leo.” The short woman beside him shook Terra’s hand too. “I’m Marin Graunt.”

“Yes, I know. I saw you on board the airship over Evergreen. You’re the one who figured out how to fly it over the Wilderness, and then got us back to Orion.”

A proud smile spread across Marin’s face. “I’m an airship engineer.”

“Don’t forget bomb-builder.” Leonidas winked at Terra. “Marin likes to blow things up.”

Marin’s smile conceded to a sigh. “I don’t
like
to blow things up. It just sort of happens.”

“What do you know about the bombs that destroyed Decia?” Terra asked her.

Her face paled. “Not much. I know the Diamond Edges sent some samples over to Orion Explosives, where I used to work. But I was off training for the Solstice Games then, so I wasn’t around to take a look at them myself.”

“Terra?” Everett asked.

For the second time, she recounted the memories she’d seen. Even before she’d finished speaking, Everett began to pace. Jason’s dark eyes followed him, then shifted to Leonidas.

“You want to go with him,” he said.

Leonidas shivered, not an uncommon response to having a Phantom tell you what you’ve been thinking.

“Yes,” he admitted.

“This is about more than the chance for a new mission, isn’t it?” Marin asked him.

Leonidas opened his mouth to speak, then quickly clamped it shut again. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it later.”

“It had better be a good one if you’re thinking about stealing something from Lord Varen.” Marin strode up to Terra and Everett. “We didn’t come here to face the Varenese, but if Leo’s coming, so am I.”

Everett’s chin dipped low as he looked down at her; Marin sure was short. “Sneaking onto Lord Varen’s island is not like running through Emperor’s Park. It’s not even as civilized as competing in the Solstice Games. Lord Varen isn’t welcoming to trespassers. Your friend is a trained spy. What can you do?”

“You should take her, Everett,” Ariella said. “Terra knew what she was doing when she asked me to bring her here. Marin has some really crazy ideas that sound like they’d never work—not in a million years—and yet they always do. She can bypass almost any technological defense you could encounter. And if she can’t bypass it, she’ll just blow it up. She’ll be useful.”

“Sold. You can come,” he told Marin. A smirk spread over his face as he turned to Ariella. “It sounds like you’ve gotten a better handle on technology since the last time we worked together.”

“What makes you think I’m volunteering to come with you too?”