Soul(s) (26 page)

He pulled back ending our kiss and I came
slowly down from the power of our embrace.

“
Keegan,” I said barreling
my face into his shoulder. His arms wrapped around me
tightly.

“
You did it, Wats,” he
told me pushing a kiss through my hair to my head. He held me
tight, steadying me against him.

I opened my eyes and it was true a fast
mountain range had risen up and grown around, encompassing the
whole city. Like a chained dominoes reaction it spread out as far
as we could see.

“
That was freaky,” Ajani
said looking over to us. I didn’t look into his eyes, I was afraid
of what I’d see there. I’d just melded with thirty different souls
at once—I’d be lying if I wasn’t scared of my own
strength.

“
Did I hurt you?” I asked
pushing my head like an ostrich into Keegan’s chest.

“
No,” Ajani said firmly.
“What you did was amazing! You’ve bought us time to prepare a
defense.”

Don’t hide against
me,
Keegan scolded. I felt like a child
almost, but that was naïve, no child could have done what I just
did.

Keegan tilted my head back gently until I
looked at him.

“
I trust you,” he
said.

“
All of us do,” Ajani
added.

I scrounged up enough
courage to look at him and what I saw in his eyes surprised me.
Respect. When had his opinion of me transformed into that? That was
not usually what I saw when I caught him looking at me. Then I
realized, he had meant what he said in the diner on First-Plane. He
wanted to be
friends
and respect was the first step in that direction.

We heard a beep, and he pulled out his
communicator. It blinked with a message.

“
It’s Lanni,” Ajani said
as he read, “She’s successfully updated the transporter decks and
the temple buildings to only read our specific DNA. That’ll at
least keep them from using our own technology against us. She wants
us to head back immediately to scan ourselves in. I’ve got to get
transported to the bottom of the range near the mountain territory,
and you all have your recon mission.”

“
We’d better head out. All
our work will be for nothing if we don’t have any weapons to arm
ourselves with,” Keegan said and he was perfectly right.

Back at Paramount we met Lanni in the
transporter room. She looked tired, worried and above all serious.
I remember when Keegan had fallen into the portal and she was so
light-hearted about it. I’d judged her for it thinking she was
flippant and unfeeling, but now ironically, I missed her airy
energy.

“
Place your hands one by
one on the square readers. Sariah, I’ll start with you,” she
instructed.

“
How close can you
teleport us to the large temple?” Keegan asked.

“
About a mile out.
Honestly,” she continued not looking up from her monitors, “I wish
it were farther. Take a look at the atlas; it’s crawling with
yellow dots. I’ve always hated that color.”

My machine beeped and Lanni waved me away
and motioned for Keegan to step forward. I looked at the map. There
was a swarm of them around the building. If they couldn’t get in,
looks like they weren’t going to let us either.

“
How do we get in?” Keegan
asked.

“
Skylight we be my best
guess. I’ve reprogramed the door to open for you only, but they’re
all guarding the entrance where the reader is. You can try to break
through the Skylight, otherwise you’ll have to fight your way into
the front which will not work.”

“
There’s no better plan
than this suicide mission?” Keegan spat angrily at her.

Lanni shrugged, “Don’t go if you want, we’re
probably all dead anyway even with the extra dekus.”

I stared at her, shocked by her
pessimism.

“
We’ll figure it out,” I
assured him.

Keegan didn’t look convinced.

We positioned ourselves a few meters back
near the Temple. There were more Omni then we’d expected. This
little recon mission of ours wasn’t off to a good start. The Omni
were smart and very calculating. They’d done this before—how many
times had they taken over other territories? How many tribes of
Auras existed past the peninsula?

I got about fifteen, by my
count
, Keegan thought to me.

Sixth-teen,
I thought back,
and
that’s just near the building. There’s a large camp of them west of
our position.

That’s more than we thought. The skylight
plan is our best shot. Let’s get in and out as quickly as
possible.

We’d come up with a plan that I would stay
back and cover Keegan, using my powers to neutralize any threat to
him or to exposing us. There was always a part of me that wanted to
just run away, like he’d always suggested. We could take care of
ourselves. But I knew this was bigger than all of us now; too much
at stake. We had to get those weapons.

Ready?
Keegan asked.

Yes,
I confirmed but my stomach knotted. I knew the chances of us
getting in and out without them knowing were slim to none, but I’d
do anything to keep Keegan a live. Even kill. I hated that it would
come down to that, but he was more important than anything else.
The conviction I felt in my soul when I admitted that—even in
thought—was frightening. I hoped I wasn’t put to the
test.

Keegan waited for a moment and then whipped
from tree to tree, getting as close as he could to before making a
shot through the open space to the temples walls.

I moved parallel in the tree line so I could
keep a good eye on him as he moved. Keegan was faster than I
remember. He was pushing himself harder than he ever had. He
stopped right at the clearing leaning against the last tree in the
shadows.

There’s someone just to the left of the
building wall. They’re heading this way. I can’t move.

I’ve got it.
I told him confidently.

I can wait until he goes
by,
Keegan offered.

No—we stick to the plan. I’ll handle it.
Wait for my command to move.

It felt like an eternity
until the enemy came around the corner, but I’m sure it wasn’t more
than two minutes. He was idly walking as if he were stretching his
legs rather than patrolling. He wasn’t paying attention. I realized
they must not have the same powers as we did. Otherwise he would
have already sensed us. He had no idea we were so close. I closed
my eyes, knowing I had only a short while to do what needed to be
done. I thought about how I’d almost lost Keegan forever when he
fell through that portal. But I’d gotten a second chance. I found
him and we were together again and I wasn’t going to lose him now
due to my own weakness.
I didn’t want to
hurt anyone but I had to.
This was war. I
gritted my teeth.

I threw my hand out roughly. It was like my
arm became this invisible force I could stretch. I grabbed him
before and before he could scream I crushed. He crumbled like a
puppet and I drug his body quick into the nearest brush.

Go,
I ordered Keegan.

He blew through the clearing to the
building. He was so fast that he was able to scale the wall and
land nimble at the top.

Shit, you really hold back when you fight
don’t you?

I didn’t answer and he thought to me:

I see the skylight. Get in my mind.

What?
I thought back panicked.

I can gut the glass with
the deku, but I can’t stop it from falling.
Keegan reasoned.

You want me to take over your body and keep
the glass from falling?

Just for a moment. Then you need to zip back
into your own form and keep watch.

I—

Wats, I trust you. Just do it.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. I
prayed I didn’t hurt him or damage his mind by controlling it.

When I opened them again I was on top of the
building with Keegan. It felt like we were on person. I felt his
arm reach back and grab his deku. He morphed it a torch. I felt a
surge of his own energy flow through his hand to the deku powering
it. A blue flame blew out.

Takeover,
he ordered.

The only thing I could think to do was to
just try to move like I would my own arms and it worked. I stared
at his empty hand being control by my mind in bewilderment. I
leaned Keegan’s body forward and used my telekinesis through him. I
cut the glass slowly and prepared with my free hand to hold the
glass. The circle I drew turned the glass black. I felt it
loosening and steadied began to lift up. A perfect human sized hole
appeared. I set that hot glass off to the side of the roof and then
snapped back into my own body.

Are you okay?
I asked eagerly.

Disoriented but
fine,
Keegan told me honestly.
Keep watch. I’m going to make this
fast.

I was going to respond back but I felt
something sharp jab into my arm and I shrieked in surprise before
groaning in pain.

My body felt frozen and I heavy. I couldn’t
move.

Sariah?
Keegan thought to me.

Something isn’t right.

I’m coming!

The weapons,
I thought wearily.

Fuck the weapons.

NO! You have to get them!

Dammit! Sariah hold on!

“
Who might you be?” A
voice said from behind me.

I couldn’t answer vocally which I’m sure
they knew but I also remained silent telekinetically. It might be
my only advantage at this point.

“
I’ve paralyzed you for
now, and when my venku gets here, we’ll take you to
Damien.”

They were behind me and I
couldn’t see them. I felt my body moved and realized I was being
dragged.
Again. Not again.
My mind thought. Images of my last night on
First-Plane flashed in my head. All those emotions I felt
were
real
again.
That night was
real again.
But I wasn’t helpless this time. I could do
something. I could save myself.

I don’t need to be able to
move to kill you.
I spat into its head. I
felt their panic and confusion. I grabbed them around the throat
holding them up and they dropped me like I was hot iron. I fell
back sliding down the side of a tree trunk. The weight of my body
against the tree put bark skid marks along my spine. I couldn’t
scream and the need to express the pain manifested in my hold
tightening around my enemy’s throat. I heard the gurgling sound and
felt their blood on my arm.

MY ARM
. The other one was coming back to life with prickling
sensation. They’d over estimated hitting me with one dart, or knife
or whatever was in my shoulder blade. I could move my arm just
enough to get myself in an upright position. Keegan was coming
slowly down the side of the building, trying to not make noise. He
had a bag filled with dekus slung over his shoulder.

I can see you,
he thought to me,
and
that thing you’ve got suspended in the air.

I snapped her neck and then dropped my hold.
Its body slumped to the ground with a thud.

I can’t move,
I whispered.
But I can
still see you.

Don’t worry. I’ll grab you and we’ll be out
of here.

He was to me in seconds scooping me in his
arms like a child. I wrapped my strongest arm around his shoulders.
I was so relieved this was over and he was okay. We were going to
make it and that was all that mattered.

“
YOU THERE!
STOP!”

There’s coming,
I thought-whispered
.

Keegan bolted picking up speed as he went. I
could feel he was getting tired. He wasn’t moving as fast as he had
early. We were both running of energy.

How many are coming?

I can see at least three.

We were back fully in the woods but they
were gaining on us. When they were only a twelve or so feet behind
us. Their skin rippled as they ran. Quills began poking out all
over them like sharp needles. They stopped abruptly and the quills
shot out of them propelling them forwards like bullets.

Not today,
I thought to them.

The last of my energy flew out of me and
everything felt like it slowed down. The needles were just a foot
away from us but I put a shield around us. They bounced off and
shot right back at them. They screamed in surprise, clearly not
expecting to have to dodge their own weapons. I couple got out of
the way but I hit the one in the center dead on.

Keegan, now would be a
fantastic time to show off how fast you can fun.
I thought.

The two who’d managed to dodge knelt around
the injured one.

They weren’t expecting us
to be stronger than them,
I
whispered.

We almost weren’t.
Keegan thought.

Almost doesn’t count.

36: KEEGAN

I was relieved that they didn’t try to peruse us
after Sariah reflected their attack. I moved as fast as I could. My
body was nearing exhaustion but just like the first night I’d met
her, when I thought I couldn’t go any further my body kept
accelerating.