Steel Lily ARC (32 page)

“She sounds angry to me.”

“Same thing. Seems to be the general rule of thumb with women.”

The top of the car began to buzz, and I realized the roof was bending backward into a small cavity behind us. Great. So now I was in a rolling death machine without a top to protect us.

Jaxon drummed the wheel excitedly and looked at me as he buckled himself in. “My laboratory is on the edge of the dome, and I think you’ll like it. That’s where we’re heading.”

Before I could argue, he punched the gas, shifted the car into gear and we shot off into the night, me screaming at the top of my lungs and Jaxon whooping in excitement.

Boys.

The onslaught of wind chapped my face, but I had to admit, riding in the car was exhilarating.

After realizing Jaxon was an efficient driver, that is.

I fought to keep my hair out of my face, but it was useless. It twisted and slapped my face each time I pulled my hand away.

I yelled over the howling wind that whipped past us. “What kind of car is this? Do they all go this fast?”

“This is a 2017 Porsche 911 Turbo. It was my civil duty to save it from perishing there in the car lot,” Jaxon called back. “And no, they do NOT all go this fast!”

Jaxon whipped the car around a tight corner as though he’d done this his entire life. The tires squealed in protest under the abrupt turn, and Jaxon bellowed in excitement. When the car straightened out of its fish tail, he shot a look at me. “You having fun?”

“That depends on if we’re going to survive! Keep your eyes on the road!”

My face hurt from smiling so much. Jaxon seemed to know all the roads that were free of debris and rubble. I gripped the dash in front of me for support, but cheered from the sheer exhilaration of it all.

Jaxon laughed and took another turn, each time cutting it closer to a parked car or derelict building. Just when I thought I might get sick from the constant turns and shifting of speeds, Jaxon slowed down.

“There, up ahead,” he said as he pointed ahead with one hand, the other firmly on the steering wheel. “See that big building? It’s my laboratory.”

As we neared it, the shadows enveloped us like a shroud. Jaxon killed the engine of the car and hopped out, then came around to my side to open the door.

“We’re kind of far away still, aren’t we?” I asked.

“Fifteen minute walk,” Jaxon said. “There’s no more road. Gotta hoof it.”

Jaxon climbed over a concrete barrier and extended a hand. As I stepped over, something gleamed to the left and caught my attention.

Jaxon’s eyes followed my line of sight. “That’s the end of the dome,” he said as he pointed around us. “My lab juts right up against the edge over there, and that’s the end of it on the east side.”

Curiosity got the best of me as the edge of the dome shimmered in the light. “It looks almost transparent, like we could walk through. Have you tried?”

“Actually, no,” Jaxon admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Will you let us go to the lab if we touch the edge of the dome first?”

“Yeah. The one in Dome Four never shimmered like that. It was solid.”

He laughed. “All right, let’s go touch the shimmery dome, and then I’ll show you my lab.” His hand grasped mine. This seemed to be the habit for the night, him taking my hand in his, and it made me smile. This Jaxon was someone I could see myself enjoying.

Now if only he would stay this way.

The closer we got to the edge, the more the dome seemed to shimmer in and out of existence like a playful apparition. He let go of my hand and took a step closer.

“I think you’re right, Avery. This doesn’t look solid.”

Now that I was close to the edge, it didn’t seem like such a good idea to test the limit. The way the light danced against the surface of the dome might have looked playful from afar, but now I wondered if it was an indication of something sinister.

It was always the beautiful things in life that were the most deadly.

Jaxon turned back to me, a daring smile on his lips. “Oh, come on, you made me come over here. Touch it and be done so we can go to my lab,” he said playfully as he rubbed his arms. “It’s cold out here; I want to warm up.”

“What if it’s not safe?”

He snorted. “Really? You went one hundred and thirty miles an hour in what you claimed was a metal death trap and you balk at touching the dome wall? Fine, I’ll show you it won’t bite.”

He sauntered over to the wall with his usual braggadocio and turned to face me when he reached the end. As he relaxed his body to lean back against the wall, he extended his arms. “See? No prob—”

And that’s when he fell through the pseudo wall.

“JAXON!”

His body hit the ground outside the dome and his head connected with the concrete. “What the hell? There’s no real wall?” he asked in wonderment.

His words rang clear, as though there was nothing separating us. He sat there on the ground, running his hands along the rough surface as he looked at me, astounded.

“You can breathe all right?” I asked.

“Yeah…” he said. He lifted his hands, palms toward mine and held them barely outside of the dome. I stepped forward and mimicked his movements, but I extended mine through the dome to touch his.

I thought it would burn. Maybe my skin would peel off like Jaxon’s brother’s had.

But I didn’t burn. Not like that, anyway.

Touching Jaxon always made me burn, and this was no different. He was an insatiable flame, not that I would ever want to squelch the fires that he ignited within me.

He was all business at the moment. “I wonder if it’s me, though. Like I can breathe because of what Riggs did—” he stopped quickly, “you read the journal, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Thanks for not bringing it up.”

“I figured you’d talk about it when you wanted to.”

We stood there like that for a moment, lost in the revelation that there was no barrier to keep us from leaving, and so far we hadn’t exploded for crossing the threshold.

I wanted to see if I could step outside the dome, too.

After a deep breath, I took one step, then two. Jaxon startled. “Avery, don’t do that! You don’t know if — ”

It felt like I’d walked through a crisp spring rain, but as I stepped to the other side, I was still dry. I looked at Jaxon, expelled my breath, and prayed that I would be able to inhale again.

I could.

“Hell, yeah!” Jaxon whooped and punched the air with his fist. “Everything they’ve told us about being outside, that the world was ruined, it was all a bunch of lies! Look at us. We’re standing outside, breathing the air.”

He spun in a circle, then picked me up and took me for the ride. When Jaxon placed me back on the earth, he cupped my face in his hands.

It was like someone had set every neuron in my body on fire. His closeness, his scent, the way his lips curved upward. He smiled at me, and his blue eyes were sincere.

“We’re going to escape. We’ll take Sari, Alice, your parents, even Gimpalicious.” Jaxon’s words came out in a rush, his excitement increasing with each syllable he uttered. He bounced where he stood, too emotionally charged to stand still. He thrust his arm behind him as to show me the endless darkness that we now knew could be ours. “We’re going to go far away from here. Build a life. Build a new world, one step at a time. We’re going to do it all, and I want you to be by my side. I want you for myself.”

Without warning, his lips crushed mine and I lost all sense of self. His body heat pressed against me like a tidal wave, and I welcomed it. It felt like electricity had replaced the blood in my veins, every limb tingling with excitement.

I had caught fire with him, and I never wanted to quell the sensation.

Never wanted to let go.

This
was home. Not Dome Seven. Not Dome Three. Not any dome.

Home was finding the person whose heartbeat matched yours, then dancing to the rhythm together.

His lips moved gently and I parted mine, welcoming his advances. We moved as one person, his hands roving along my waist and mine finding the nape of his neck. I wound my fingers through his dreads and pulled him closer to me. His moan spurred me on, encouraging me to hold him tighter. I shivered as he moved his hands across the small of my back. He pulled me to the ground with him and it didn’t matter that we were lying on cement. The fact that we knew we could escape, that our lives could be better than this tyranny and fear, made everything that much sweeter.

I bit his bottom lip and he let out a sigh as he squeezed my sides. He broke our kiss long enough to trace my jawline with his finger. “I know we haven’t known each other that long, but…”

“Shut up and kiss me, Jaxon.”

“Your wish is my command.”

His lips pressed against mine and we found our pace again. My heart was thrumming in my ears, his breathing was heavy, and everywhere I looked, Jaxon was there. He commanded every sense of my body. Every touch sent flames and electricity and excitement through me. I never wanted it to end.

I rolled to my right to sit on top of him and we slipped back under the sensation of rain, back into the dome.

And that’s when hell ripped through our little sliver of heaven.

High-pitched alarms blared, threatening to burst my eardrums. Jaxon pushed me off of him and clutched his ears in agony.

“Jaxon!”

He was jerking uncontrollably, blood dripping from his ears. It felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over me. I fought through the pain that assaulted my eardrums.

“Jaxon! We’ve got to go!”

As I spoke, the alarms receded and the broken pavement trembled and shook. Jaxon’s eyes grew wide. “The dome isn’t meant to keep people from leaving, it’s meant to keep people from coming
in
!”

“What do you mean?” I yelled over the din.

Jaxon launched himself off the ground and hauled me in tow behind him. “Why would anyone want to leave?” he yelled as we ran, “Riggs makes sure his students are happy. He doesn’t need to keep people here. They don’t even know they can get out!”

“So why not let people in?”

Just then rain began to fall, except it wasn’t rain.

It was fire.

I screamed as the small droplets singed my clothes and burnt my skin. Jaxon batted a small flame that erupted on his shirt, but he couldn’t contain it. The fire quickly spread up his shirtsleeve. He panicked, and I did the only thing that came to mind.

My hands stretched to the heavens, I closed my eyes and screamed. “WATER!” I prayed that my desperation would make it true.

As soon as the word escaped my lips, I felt the cool relief of rain. Steam hissed and billowed up as the water extinguished the flames on the ground.

I immediately began to feel the backlash of using my ability. “I can’t hold this for long. We have to go.”

We ran back to the car. Darkness threatened the edges of my vision. Red and yellow spots danced before my eyes as I pushed my ability to keep the rain from turning back into fire. When we reached the car, I was spent.

Jaxon looked at me with wide eyes as I swayed on the spot. “What in the hell are you doing? Get in the car!”

“I can’t keep the rain going,” I gasped as I felt my control wane. Even now the rain became warmer and warmer, like a too-hot shower on my skin. It wouldn’t be long before the flames came back. “Get out of the car.”

“What do you mean?”

“Get out of the car!” I exclaimed again as my knees buckled under me. The water was now an impossible combination of both water and fire. It came down in buckets and splashed against the ground, licking my skin and burning through my clothing.

“Gas and fire…” I sputtered, “you…you don’t have to be genius to know what that’ll cause.”

“Crap!” he yelled as he leapt from the car and scooped me up in his arms.

My consciousness faded as he ran, and I finally gave up on trying to hold off the deluge of fire. The moment I did, my strength began to return, but now we were pelted with miniature fireballs.

Jaxon yelled in agony as one hit him in the side of the face, sending us both off course as I slipped from his embrace. I hit the ground hard and my neck whipped around like a rag doll’s.

Where was Jaxon? I squinted to see through the haze of the heat. He was underneath what was left of an overhang, clutching the side of his face. I ran to him and put his arm around my shoulder.

I willed him to stand. “We’ve got to keep moving!”

He moaned in assent and struggled to put one foot in front of the other. Just as we got the hang of walking together, a massive explosion erupted behind us, the force catapulting both of us off our feet. The car’s gas tank must have exploded.

A high-pitched hum reverberated in my ears from the blast. I skidded to a stop beside a car tire and touched the side of my face. My skin felt as though someone had taken a grater to it. I whimpered under the light pressure, and knew it would be something that even Xander might not be able to fix. Jaxon lay a few paces away, struggling to pull himself up.

I forced myself to cross the gap between us and help him to his feet, both of us scrabbling for purchase against the gravelly ground. Jaxon seized my hand and pulled me toward a nearby alleyway.

“We need to get to cover before the next wave hits!”

“The next wave of WHAT?”

Thunder erupted from above us and howling winds threatened to whip us into oblivion. I looked to the west where the sound originated, and saw a huge funnel cloud taking form. Cars and other debris spun wildly and gave it more fuel for its violent trek.

Jaxon pulled me into the alley, but my eyes refused to budge from the horror that was coming for us. “It’s going to kill us, Jaxon!”

“No it won’t! We need to get to lower ground!”

His pace was too fast for me, but he managed to half-drag, half-carry me into a nearby derelict building. Down a pair of industrial stairs, down into the bowels of darkness so deep that I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face. I prayed Jaxon knew where he was going.

The angry howl of the wind came closer and closer, and I began to panic as the ground rumbled underneath its fury. Just when I thought we couldn’t go down any more stairs, the ground leveled out and a light flicked on in front of me.