Steel Lily ARC (29 page)

As we left the room I realized that I’d be content to start with saving ourselves.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-FOUR

The cold halls of the academy seemed to suck the warmth from my body as Jaxon and I walked soundlessly beside one another. Moonlight washed all the color from the banners that hung eerily still in the night, and the sound of water hitting the fountain pool echoed against the walls in the absence of the usual commotion. It was almost ethereal.

Jaxon’s rhythmic breathing was the only reassurance that I wasn’t alone in the near darkness. The low-powered emergency lights flickered off and on, causing my eyes to never really adjust to the dark. We trekked by touch; something I wasn’t sure if I was comfortable with. It felt too intimate and made me reliant on Jaxon to lead the way.

“For having electricity, this place doesn’t use it when you need it most.”

Jaxon laughed. “Just because you have something, doesn’t mean you misuse it.”

“So you’re saying we’re conserving energy for more important things?”

“Precisely.”

“Such as?”

Jaxon’s voice hardened. “Such as trying to keep people out. I never said the usages were for good things, only that the Academy conserved where they could.”

I hated being dependent on anyone, especially the dreadlocked, handsome boy whose angular features were exaggerated in this light. When I cast a glance in his direction, his eyes were locked on mine and I felt self-conscious. I pulled the hair band from around my wrist and quickly pulled my wild hair back into a messy bun.

I eyed him warily. “What are you looking at?”

Even in the dim light, I could see the enjoyment he got from making me uncomfortable. “I would think that was obvious.”

“Me?”

Instead of answering, Jaxon snorted and continued to walk into the atrium. He exuded assurance in each step, but what I first mistook for arrogance, I began to see was self-preservation. We weren’t so different; neither of us was willing to get to know anyone, willing to give others a chance, for fear of being hurt. We just handled it differently.

He stopped when he reached the fountain and looked back in my direction. His usual pride was nowhere to be found. He smiled, and the moonlight enhanced his already good looks.

“Are you going to stand in the hallway, or are you coming with me? I thought you wanted to go visit your boyfriend?”

I startled at the playful accusation and walked toward him, waving away his words with a quick snap of my wrist. “Legs is
not
my boyfriend. Xander asked me to stop by because Legs was asking about me.”

Jaxon resumed the journey to Xander’s office. “Uh huh,” he said lightly. “I wonder if you’d come see
me
, were I in the infirmary. I’m pretty sure I’d be lucky to get a card.”

“Only if the card was free.”

We both laughed at the same time. He looked my way, but then quickly went back to watching our surroundings.

Was I seriously flirting with him?

I think I was.

Part of me wanted to do a fist pump for pulling it off without crashing and burning.

We arrived down the small corridor that led to Xander’s office. The brilliance of the fluorescent lights spilled through the frosted glass door at the end of the hall. Our steps echoed as we increased our pace. It seemed Jaxon was ready to get this part of our night over with.

His hand wrapped around the steel door handle and as he began to walk in, I heard him gasp.

“For the love of God…”

I fell in step behind him, anxious to see what the commotion was about.

Sitting on the center examining table was Legs, hooked up to Riggs’s mechanical arm.

Legs’s face was filled with sheer elation as he bent the arm at the elbow; the cogs whirred in finely tuned and oiled synchronization. The metal fingers clinked together as he flexed the hand instinctively, the focus on his face clear.

I let out a jittery laugh, and Legs’s head snapped in my direction. “You came!”

Jaxon pointed to his chest, then waved his bandaged arm as though it were evidence in a court case. “Don’t mind me, I’m the guy that saved you, never mind that you stabbed me while in a drug-induced panic. No reason to acknowledge my presence. Carry on.”

Legs looked at him with narrow eyes, and for a moment I wondered if he would try to crush him with the ultra-strong arm he now possessed. He seemed to deliberate as he chewed on the inside of his cheek, then smiled sheepishly and waved his new arm.

“My fault. Hello.”

Jaxon shrugged and walked back to the corner of Xander’s room without saying another word. The leather chair gave a whoosh of air as Jaxon tossed himself into it with an exaggerated, melancholy sigh and grabbed a nearby book. As he flipped the pages disinterestedly, he muttered to himself so low that I was able to only catch a few words, most of them colorful. I turned my focus back to Legs. He sat quietly, in obvious wonderment, as Xander checked all of the connections.

I glanced to the corner of the room where I knew a camera was mounted. It was turned toward the niche on the other side of the room with a cord dangling. Xander must have disarmed it. Sari was going to have to keep Riggs from noticing that.

“So how’d this happen?” I asked Xander, as I motioned toward the arm. “I thought you said it was impossible to get it.”

A crooked smile tickled the corner of his lips. “Impossible for
you
,” he said lightly. His mischievous grin made me laugh. A small oiling can sat at the edge of the bed, and Xander picked it up to oil up one particular cog that wasn’t moving as seamlessly as the others. “For me, it was a matter of explaining to Riggs that I wanted to run tests on a few subjects in order to create a more powerful version. He happily agreed to let me borrow it, as long as it came back in one piece. I agreed, since he never set a return date.”

The comment about subjects made my skin crawl. Xander’s eyes caught mine, and his smile faltered. “I thought you’d be happy I got him the arm…”

“No, no, I’m happy,” I said reassuringly, not wanting to offend him, “but when you say subject…”

“He doesn’t have a tracker, if that’s what you mean.” Xander said. “That would defeat the purpose of your little mission, now wouldn’t it?”

I smiled, glad to have the confirmation Xander hadn’t accidentally ruined our plans before they were even in place. “Yes, it would,” I agreed, laughing at myself for being worried. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Xander said. “Come, take a look. I think you’ll be impressed.”

I walked closer to Legs and he held out his arm. My fingers traced the thin steel poles that ran along the sides and protected the central shaft. It was like looking at a metal representation of a skeleton. The intricacies, while made of metal and wire, were beautiful.

“It’s amazing,” I breathed. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

My fingers ran up to the shoulder, where Legs’s flesh now met the steel beams. Xander had a large bandage over the actual connecting point at the elbow, but I assumed that it would look a bit strange when the bandage came off.

I traced the line of the bandage and Legs winced. “Does it hurt?”

He smiled and wiggled his metal fingers. “A little, but being able to move my fingers again is nice, even if they’re prosthetics.”

“This arm is going to be better than your human arm by a hundred times,” Xander said confidently.

Legs’s eyes never left mine, and his smile was gentle. “I’ll be happy to be able to hug someone again.”

His flesh hand covered my own, and I stared at them, his on top of mine. I wondered what he saw when he looked down at the hands. Friendship? Solidarity? Hope for more? When he spoke, my eyes lifted to meet his. “Thank you for saving me,” he said earnestly. “Seems like we always find a way to help each other. I owe you.”

“Along with me,” Jaxon called from the corner.

“Along with you,” Legs said cheerfully, his eyes never leaving mine. “You really are a welcome sight, Avery. Beauty in the face of horrible things.”

Xander coughed back what sounded like a laugh, and I closed my eyes in embarrassment.

“I do have something interesting to report that Legs isn’t telling you,” Xander quipped from across the room, where he leaned casually against the corner countertops. He pulled a vial of blood from the pocket of his jacket and lifted it up to the light, the crimson liquid staining the container when he turned it sideways. “Legs is able to mimic some of your abilities now.”

“You’re kidding!”

“Not in the slightest. I’m not sure why he hadn’t mentioned it.”

Legs flashed me a look before breaking into a wide smile. “I was circumvented by Jaxon’s pouting.”

Jaxon raised an eyebrow. “I don’t believe in pouting. I simply believe in making sure people are aware of my discomforts so that they’ll be remedied in a timely manner. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and all that.”

“The squeaky wheel also gets replaced,” Legs said mildly as he fought to keep his face impassive. These two were going to kill each other if they stayed together for much longer.

“Well let me see something before we leave,” I said hastily, hoping to postpone the impending wrestling match. “Let’s see if you’re on par with me.”

“I’m not,” Legs said with a small smile. “I can light candles or make Xander’s coffee steam more than it should. Nothing like bursting wine goblets into flames.”

I dropped my gaze and felt Jaxon’s eyes on me. He didn’t know that story. “So you heard about that, huh?”

“Word travels fast here. Riggs called Xander down, and when he came back, he was cracking up as he told me the story. Xander said you gave that Riggs guy a pretty good scare,” Legs said smugly. “Serves him right. I’ll make sure he gets what’s coming to him.”

“I’ll take care of that,” Jaxon interjected. “He’s my father.”

Xander seemed unhappy with the digression of the conversation. “Let’s not get into that right now.”

He opened a drawer and rummaged through it, the contents rattling and clanking together. Finally he extracted a long candle that had a fresh, unburned wick at its peak. He pointed it at Jaxon, but then spoke to all of us.

“Legs, show them your candle trick.”

Legs narrowed his eyes, focusing on the candle. Nothing happened.

It was a few seconds of silence before Jaxon’s patience waned. “Excellent trick; stare the candle into submission.”

Just then the candle’s wick burst into a flame that was too large for the candle to control. Half the wax softened and melted.

Xander dropped the candle in surprise, but then whooped in excitement. “See there, Jax! I wouldn’t make him mad if I were you. Before long, Avery will be able to coach him on how to handle this.”

I doubled over from laughing at Jaxon’s disgruntled face. I applauded Legs. “Nice one!”

His face beamed with excitement. Inside, I was full of mixed emotions. Legs was
creating
elements. I hadn’t been able to master that. Did Xander know my shortcomings? Maybe Legs could teach
me
how to do that.

I tried to keep my voice carefree. “Xander, how’d this happen?”

Xander shrugged. “To be honest, I’m not sure. I think it’s something in your blood. I’ve never seen anyone manifest abilities if they weren’t exposed to radiation, and Legs swears he’s never been exposed.”

Jaxon stood with his arms crossed. “Excellent. Now we’ve got Avery’s blood making everyone odd.”

Xander extended the vial to Jaxon. “Would you like to test the theory?”

Jaxon snapped his fingers in mock disappointment. “Damn, Xander, that was my goal yesterday: to become a repeat human guinea pig. You missed the deadline. Lucky for you, I’m sure Riggs will have you testing that theory on subjects in no time.”

I gripped his arm tightly. “Jaxon, he’s on our side.”

Jaxon’s eyes burned with anger as he shrugged me off. “I don’t even know why you’d ask me that, Xander. Have you been spending too much time with Riggs? I thought you were supposed to be on our side, like Avery said.”

Xander looked down quickly, appearing to be battered from Jaxon’s words. “I apologize, Jax. There was no ill intention. It wouldn’t hurt you.” He looked at me sincerely. “I was simply trying to see if Avery was the, shall we say,
universal donor
for abilities, as she’s the universal donor for blood type. It would be a huge step forward.”

I nodded. “I understand, but let’s keep that between the four of us. Information like this could get me into trouble.”

He deposited the small vial of my blood back in his pocket. “Indeed it could. We’ll see how Legs takes to the new abilities and go from there.”

Jaxon, obviously flustered by the turn of events, fidgeted with a stray dreadlock. “Well, it’s been real, but can we go now?”

I gave Legs a quick hug and a small kiss on the cheek.

“Keep practicing,” I said in his ear. “It takes a lot out of you when you create elements, so take your time. And let your new arm heal. It won’t do you any good to try to work on Elementalist things when you aren’t one hundred percent yourself.”

Legs smiled and put his hand on mine. “You got it, boss.”

As I made to pull away, his hand grasped mine and he pulled me back to him. “I came for you, Avery.”

Jaxon wedged his way between us and faced Legs. I couldn’t see Jaxon’s face, but his tone made it clear that he wasn’t pleased. “And I went for her before you, and succeeded. Respect that.”

“You kidnapped her from her home,” Legs said evenly as he pushed himself off the bed and stood toe to toe with Jaxon, their chests pressed against one another as they sized each other up. “There’s no pride in committing a felony, Mr. Pierce, although for some reason you seem to think that makes her your property.”

“So you coming to get her on orders from your government is supposed to be any more altruistic?” Jaxon snorted. “Please, save your words for someone who believes them.”

I pushed around Jaxon and wiggled in between them. I extended my hands in either direction and pushed, but they barely moved.

“Okay, enough.” I huffed as I grabbed Jaxon’s hand and pulled him toward the door. “We’re leaving now. I’ll be back soon, Xander, Legs.” I hoped my emphasis on the word
I
made it clear that Jaxon was not invited to the next little pow-wow.