Steel Lily ARC (19 page)

“Probably not here, you’re right,” he agreed. “But if you come home with me, I could explain things.”

We stood there for a moment in silence before he took my hand in his and lifted it to his lips. He kissed the back of my hand gently, his eyes never releasing mine from his gaze. “You’ve been worth every ounce of trouble you’ve caused me, Pike.”

I laughed. “I’m glad you think so, considering you’re down an arm because of it.”

He lifted his remaining arm as though he hadn’t noticed he was missing one. “Eh, that’s why we’ve got two, right? Good thing you didn’t take my punching arm. How would I knock out Jaxon next time he makes a smart comment?”

“You’re good to have around, you know that?”

Legs nodded. “You’re all right company yourself. Just don’t go thinking you don’t owe me.”

“Goodnight, Legs.”

I headed to the hallway on my own, and jumped when I found Xander leaning against the wall right outside the door. His eyes were closed and in this light, his pale skin took on a ghostly glow. I clutched my chest as I tried to slow my breathing. “Good Lord, Xander. You could have warned me you were out here.”

“I wanted to keep a watch out for you. I hope you don’t mind?” he laughed. “Although, I wasn’t doing a good job, since I was standing here dozing off.”

“It’s okay, it’s late,” I said with a yawn. “I’ve got to get back to the dorm before someone finds me out here. Thanks for letting me talk to Legs.”

“Anytime,” he said. When I turned to leave, his kind voice followed me; it was hollow, but hopeful. “I was thinking about what you said about helping Legs. If you want this idea of yours to work—the one where you somehow copy Riggs’s arm or take the one that’s already available—you’re going to have to leave with him. All of you. Jax, Sari, you, and Legs.”

I stopped. “Why?”

“Because Riggs will kill you when he finds out you stole from him, and I have no doubt you’ll include those three in any hair-brained idea you drum up. You’ll all have to leave to survive.”

CHAPTER

SEVENTEEN

The trek back to my room was lonely and dark and I hated it. I struggled to adjust to the velvety darkness of the night sky in the atrium. My hand slid soundlessly along the top of the marble crenellations around the fountain as I tried to collect my racing thoughts.

How could Riggs possibly think that I could control domes? I wasn’t that powerful, and probably never would be. Even if I were, there was no way I’d go along with his madness.

And Legs, sent here because of me. It was my fault he lost his arm; my fault that his sister was in the orphanage. How could I ever repay him for all he’d lost? I knew—get Riggs’s mechanical arm for him. But at what cost? How many people would get hurt in my effort to help him? I couldn’t imagine hurting Alice or Sari or—God forgive me for even including him—Jaxon.

And Jaxon. Oh, Jaxon. That…guy. Not a boy, but not a man, but oh so sexy and I couldn’t bring myself to truly admit it. He was going to be my undoing, one way or another.

Water droplets splashed onto the back of my hand. So what if I could control steam? Riggs made it clear that using old technology—more powerful technology, in fact—wasn’t as detrimental to our world as people let on. This place ran on electricity, and nothing bad had happened. For the first time since arriving here, I truly wondered which side was right and which was wrong.

I sighed and started toward the dormitory hallway. The candles were on, exuding a faux glow. Wax overflowed from pools and dripped onto the alcoves and down the walls, creating cream-colored rivulets that wove their way to the floor. The measures that had been put in place to make the candles seem real were astonishing. I wondered if it wouldn’t be easier to simply light a candle, but maybe Riggs hadn’t yet acquired anyone who could control fire.

While I managed the storm of thoughts that swirled in my mind, I reached the door to my room. Light bled through the crack in the bottom. What time was it? Were Sari and Alice still awake? I tried to open the door as quietly as possible.

Alice rounded on me the minute the door was shut. “Care to explain where you’ve been for so long?”

“I went to see Legs. You seemed preoccupied with Will, so that’s why I didn’t ask if you wanted to come.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sari was right about that guy. I won’t be seeing him again, but I did take him up on his suggestion on a midnight stroll through the restricted section of the library,” her smile was bright, “and I found something.”

I let out a low whistle. “You sneaky thing!”

“I do what I can,” she said as she pulled a folded paper from the waistband of her skirt. “It’s mangled, but it makes me wonder if Mr. Riggs is in deeper than we’d thought.”

The paper was crumpled and old, and most of the print was worn away. A picture remained of a young Riggs in Alliance military garb. Medals hung from his breast pockets. Below the picture the words were dull, but read, “SPE AL OP ATIONS”

Alice read it aloud. “Speal Opations.”

“I think it read Special Operations at one time. Impressive.”

“The best of the best from what I read in the library,” Alice confirmed. “Something drastic must have happened to make him switch sides. It doesn’t seem like those kinds of people would sway in their loyalties.” She shook her head. “Anyway, this whole thing makes my head hurt. I’m giving the article to Sari in the morning, and I’m sure she’ll have me dig deeper. I don’t know where to look, but you can count on me to find out whatever Riggs was up to before he brought us here.”

“You’re going to get caught if you’re not careful,” I warned her. “You’ve seen the cameras in this place. Promise me you’ll have a solid alibi.”

Alice’s eyes grew bright. “Speaking of alibis, your goose is
cooked
!” she crowed. “Going off with that hunk, Jaxon? Don’t tell me you didn’t do anything all day long.”

“We didn’t,” I answered. It was kind of the truth. It was her truth; she was implying spit being swapped or some other unspeakable thing.

Her face made it clear that she didn’t believe me. She clucked her tongue against the back of her teeth.

“Well, then I guess the fact that Jaxon is in our room waiting on you won’t be too terribly enticing for you, will it?”

I blanched. “He’s in our room? Why’d you leave him in there?”

She smiled devilishly. “I made sure your scandalous panties were well hid.”

“Alice, are you kidding me? It’s…well, that’s our room!”

“Yes…and this is our kitchen. Your point?”

“God, Alice, you’re exasperating.”

“I’m here all week!”

I stalked off to our room without another word. Behind me Alice called out, “Be respectful of your roommate. If there’s going to be funny business, do it out on the couch. I don’t want to hear it when I go to bed!”

I made a gagging sound, and Alice laughed. My hand found the smooth surface of the doorknob and for a moment I faltered. My stomach was in knots, curling and uncurling.
Get a hold of yourself,
I reprimanded myself,
It’s a guy. Yes, he’s cute, but he’s an obnoxious, overflowing fountain of sarcasm, too. No reason to get all worked up.

With that thought firmly lodged in my brain, I turned the handle.

Jaxon sat with his back against the wall and legs sprawled out across my bed. My pillows were to the side of him, with one on his lap. On it sat my sketchbook. Open.

I died a little.

“What are you doing?”

He lifted my sketchbook like it was an interesting article in the newspaper. “Learning more about you.”

He stuck his hand into my messenger bag. It lay unbuckled, the contents spilling onto the bed beside him. He rifled through the bag for a moment, then pulled out the metal blob of my mother’s teapot.

“What is this exactly, and why would you keep it with you? Seems a bit strange, unless you’re planning to make it into a weapon with your extraordinary abilities. If that’s your plan, please refrain from killing me with it. I’ve always hoped I’d die in a blaze of glory. Death by crazy girl wasn’t really on my top ten.”

“You. Are. Such. An. Ass!” I stomped across the room, all the while feeling the burn of unwanted tears welling in my eyes. “Are you even aware that the people around you might feel something? Might have emotions or secrets that aren’t yours to pull apart and pry into? Or is that something that your dear old dad didn’t teach you?”

I snatched the steel orb and turned my back on him as I tried to rein in my emotions. I couldn’t—wouldn’t—let him see me upset. Wouldn’t let him know how much his invasion of my privacy cut me to the core.

Jaxon was silent. That was a first. I counted my breaths to slow them down. My heart pounded in my ears. The burn in my throat made it feel impossible to swallow. I held back the tears and hurt and turned to look at him.

His eyes were downcast. He picked at his nails and actually looked abashed. I bit my bottom lip, not sure what to do.

He took a deep breath, and I watched his shoulders rise. His eyes met mine, and I saw uncharacteristic emotion displayed there. Remorse. I didn’t even know he was capable of it. “I really am an ass, but I’m trying. Hard. You…you do things.”

I laughed spastically. “I do things?”

“Yes. And I don’t like it.”

“Well I’m sorry I can make snow and whatever else it is that I’m capable of. I didn’t mean to offend you by being a freak show.”

He huffed out what sounded like a low laugh. “You’re thick, you know that?” He looked the steel in my hand and gestured to it. “You didn’t answer my question about that.”

A lump formed in my throat and try as I might, it wouldn’t go away. I swallowed hard, battling back the tears that were on the verge of spilling over. “It was my mom’s.”

“Your mom carried a lump of steel around, too?”

“No, it was a teapot.”

“
‘Was’
being the defining word,” Jaxon said inquisitively as he took the lump from my hand. His thumb slid over the bumps where air was trapped from cooling so quickly. His eyes met mine and for once, they seemed gentle. Soft. Willing to listen.

It surprised me.

“What happened, Avery?” Jaxon whispered.

“It happened the day you came for me in my dome. A girl in my course wasn’t exactly appreciative of my abilities and I sort of smarted off and made it worse. I turned my back for a second and when I looked back, the teapot was…this.” I flung an upset hand at the handful of metal.

He was coaxing the story out of me with his suddenly benign demeanor. It was the first time I’d spoken about the event and tears finally betrayed me. Jaxon broke the wall I’d so carefully constructed around my heart when it came to my parents in one fell swoop.

I probably scared the crap out of him.

“You’re right; you’re about as smooth as sandpaper,” murmured Jaxon as he pushed himself off the bed and came to stand in front of me.

Close.

Too close.

Not close enough.

He put a hand under my chin and lifted it so I had no choice but to look at him. His blue eyes were deep and full of life. I noticed the white flecks that speckled his irises. They looked like the ocean right before a storm.

He spoke again, this time gentler than before. “No one deserves to have their belongings vandalized.”

A tear escaped. Jaxon’s thumb wiped it away. “It was the only thing of my mother’s I had,” I said, my voice cracking.

“Why don’t you have anything that belonged to your parents?”

The question brought an onslaught of tears. Jaxon pulled me to his chest. His scent filled my nostrils. Warmth and cedar and clean soap all mingled together to make a perfect symphony of fragrance.

I inhaled deeply and recollected myself, forgetting who held me. Who had his arms around me. Arms that before now I wouldn’t have been caught dead in.

I hiccupped. “They…they were taken.”

“What do you mean, taken?”

His question brought an onslaught of images in my mind. As words tumbled from my mouth, the day my parents went missing came flooding back. “I went to the market with Alice after begging my parents to let us go by ourselves. We were so proud we were on our own. After a couple hours we came back, and my front door was knocked off its hinges. My parents were gone. The Polatzi took me and put me in the orphanage. They pillaged everything from the house.”

Jaxon stiffened as he listened to my story. “Oh my God. Do you know why they were taken? Or who took them?”

“I don’t know why they were taken, but your father has them here. He proved it by calling my mother.”

Silence. My face was buried in Jaxon’s warm chest, and I couldn’t tell if the heartbeat I heard was my own or his, or if they’d become timed to one another. He tightened his grip. There was an edge to his embrace, and his voice carried some raw, new emotion to it that I couldn’t quite pinpoint. “I am so, so sorry that my father is the man he is. We’ll get your parents back. Sari can find out where they are. Did your parents have abilities?”

“Not that I know of,” I continued, voicing all the frustration that had built up. “It doesn’t matter, though. I learned to make it on my own. Legs was there. Alice has been there, too. We’re like sisters.”

Jaxon was quiet, contemplative in the silence between us. He picked me up in one smooth movement and carried me like a child to the chair by the door. His skin was soft and his muscles flexed under my weight. With the utmost care he sat me down and kneeled in front of me, his hands on my knees. He pointed over his shoulder and mouthed
camera
, but it didn’t seem like he cared about anyone hearing him. “You’re special,” he said, his eyes fervent, “and I highly doubt that was lost on your parents. Even my idiot father feels that way about you. We’ll find them. Reunite you with them.”

“I don’t know if I want to. What if they’re not the way I remember them?”

“At least part of you wants to be with them. Otherwise you wouldn’t carry a lump of steel around in your bag.”

The reminder of his intrusion rekindled my anger. How had I dropped my guard and allowed Jaxon to get so much information? I barely knew him. “You shouldn’t have dug around in my bag. That’s private.”