Surfacing the Rim (Piercing The Fold) (2 page)

Nate insinuated that someone had gotten sloppy, but I could feel that it was someone on the inside—a Sondian. Ezra thought the same, too.

For the past two months, we stayed in the villa, awaiting intelligence from the fellowship’s scientists while we compared notes with the local, national, and global news. Rebel factions already started to sprout up all over the world. Civil riots and protests for government assistance caused worldwide governmental departments to be on high alert. They started shutting down borders between nations, trying to keep the chaos contained within their own countries.

As guardians, our job of protecting humans on this Earth—while also trying to safeguard ourselves—became a million times harder because of this insider leaking information. It was intended to intimidate us. And, it served its purpose. We are only a few saviors in a sea of frightened and confused civilians.

* * *

Ezra shakes his head, stiffening his lips.

Dangerous thoughts start stirring in my mind.

Nate tries to save us from our thoughts by changing the subject. “So, what’s up?”

Ezra looks up at both of us. “Sebastian is sending us on a mission.”

I feel a knot form in my stomach.

Nate sits back, moving away from his cereal. “What about our mission here?”

Ezra sighs. “Well, the mission here has fled Miami and is now in Tokyo, Japan.”

I ask, “Are we going to Japan?”

“We need to get a fellow guardian on board with us and take care of some housekeeping at MIT first. Sebastian hasn’t confirmed, but I think that’s where we’re headed.” Ezra pauses, nervously tapping a pen on the table. “This fellow guardian. He may be…resistant.”

I start probing with a million questions. “You said he. Who is it? Why would he resist? What do we need to tell him that could make him resist?”

Ezra sighs, throwing his glasses down in frustration. “Damn it, Jesca!”

Ezra doesn’t do frustration often, so I know my heavy line of questioning has definitely gotten under his skin.

The feeling I get just before lightning strikes is creeping in. This is not going to be good.

Ezra closes his eyes for a moment. With Ezra being Ezra, I know he’s trying to regain his composure before he speaks. Nate and I remain quiet and wait.

Ezra’s voice becomes even again. “Because I have to tell him things that could change everything he thought he knew about himself.” He looks down. “Things that you may resist.”

I lean onto the table, looking directly into Ezra’s eyes. “Us? Resist? I highly doubt that!” I sit back and cross my arms. “Try me.”

Ezra breathes deeply and looks from Nate to me. “The implantation of the second-generation Copula.”

Nate breaks in. “Yeah? What about it?”

Ezra holds up his iPhone. “A device similar to this was used prior to travel to send a surge of electricity directly to the Copula. The surge acted as a harness between the body’s copper and the Copula, working together to open the wormhole, but this device wasn’t just a Copula defibrillator. It had multiple purposes.

Looking away, Ezra continues. “It was a miniature computer. This device recorded neurological and physical changes within the body during and after travel. As protocol, after every mission, Sebastian’s associates collected the data to check for any changes or abnormalities. Across the board, the data showed increased levels of copper in those who were implanted. The levels of copper contributed to alterations within the body, making those implanted superior.”

Nate questions, “Superior? In what way were they superior?

Thoughts start firing in my head. Alterations in the body making the implanted superior. Alterations.

Ezra’s voice is filled with worry. I tune back in enough to hear him say “…physical strength and speed. Psychic abilities, such as clairvoyance, telepathy...”

His mouth is moving, but I’m not listening anymore. Are we implanted? I almost speak the words, but instead, I quickly shut my gaping mouth.

Nate guardedly looks at me. “Jes?”

Ezra’s gaze focuses on me. He’s just sitting there, waiting for me to ask.

I don’t ask the question sitting on the tip of my tongue, wanting to leave my lips. If I do, I’ll slip below the surface of reality, sinking into a sea of new truths that I will have to surface from. I don’t know if I can handle that. I don’t know if I’ll be able to surface once I hear the answer to the unspoken question lingering in the atmosphere.

Ezra sits back in his chair, crossing his arms in front of his chest. His voice is soft when he speaks. “You are both implanted with Copulas.”

Yep, I’m slipping deep below the surface. I feel every hair on my body stand on end. My throat constricts, and I can’t get enough air.

I push my chair back and stand slowly. Nate reaches out to hold my arm and steady me, but I pull away from his grasp. I need to get out of here. I charge quickly to the coat closet and grab my sweatshirt.

Nate calls after me. “Jesca, wait! Where are you going?”

Ezra reprimands Nate, “Nate, let her go!”

I ignore them and run out the back door.

Chapter 2

Jesca

I pull my hooded sweatshirt over my head to shield me from the chill in the air. It’s mid-August, and the weather could easily pass for late November in Georgia.
I cross my arms over my chest and walk quickly down the beach. I feel my lungs tighten, and I can’t get enough air.

Damn it. Don’t have a panic attack, Jes. Breathe.

I should be relieved. That one missing puzzle piece of my life has been found. With the piece in place, it strips the mystery away, explaining what I am and why.

My fear is spiking as I continue to walk along the beach. I cough out a sob, and hot tears begin to roll down my cheeks. The frigid air dries them quickly.

What does this Copula make me? Am I an alien?

The Copula has altered me. But, what did it alter me from? What was I like before I was implanted? Did they implant me to save me or make me into something they needed? Am I a weapon for the fellowship?

I feel violated, like my whole life has been predetermined without my input. What about Nate? Has his future been cast for him? Has our link to each other been determined all along as well?

The last question makes my heart ache, and my skin turns hot from panic.

From the moment I met Nate, the attraction was instantaneous. I knew it was for him as well.

Is that because of the link? Could the Copula be the sole reason Nate and I feel an attraction to each other?

I turn to look out at the ocean, hoping that I am done thinking this. Deep down, I know I’m not. I breathe in deeply, using the cuff of my sweatshirt to wipe away any evidence of my fear and anger.

I need answers. I need to know why these decisions were made. With conviction, I walk back to the villa.

* * *

I slam the door shut behind me, and I walk up to the table where Ezra and Nate are still sitting.
“Are you implanted? Was my mother implanted?”

Ezra responds, “Yes, and so is every other guardian in our fellowship.”

I lean forward on my elbows, scanning both sides of Ezra’s neck. “Where is your implant?”

Ezra shifts, turning his head to reveal the nape of his neck. “Right here. They’re all implanted there. It’s the closest spot to the central nervous system.” He turns back to us. “I was implanted when Sebastian took me under his wing.”

Ezra shakes his head, almost as if to clear his memory of the pain from the process, but he isn’t fast enough to block me.

Images flash through my mind. The sedative needle…the scalpel slicing through delicate skin at the base of his neck…the stream of blood releasing…the implantation of the device—the Copula—which is nearly the size of a half dollar…Ezra opening his eyes to Sebastian hovering over him.

I turn to Nate to see if he saw it, too. By his expression, I know that he has. His mouth forms a thin line, and his arms cross in front of his chest.

I need proof. When could it have happened? I don’t remember any surgeries as a child.

Ezra reads me. “It was done during infancy. Your mother and I…we decided to perform the surgery before you could remember the experience.”

I point to Ezra. “Wait, you just hesitated. There’s something else. What is it?”

Shifting in his seat, Ezra folds his paper. He looks at Nate and me.

Ezra instructs, “I’m going to tell you a story. Do not interrupt me until I am done.”

Then, Ezra begins to tell us that he met with Sebastian in a lucid dream last night.

Chapter 3

Ezra

The sound of birds and the smell of flowers stir me awake, and my eyes flutter open. I’m sitting on a bench in a beautiful garden, and Sebastian is standing over me.

Sebastian says, “Jesca’s abilities are becoming very strong.”

I know my face must show some pain as I remember her mother. “Her abilities are beyond anything I have ever seen…since—”

Sebastian finishes, “Anna Gershon.”

Suddenly, I get a mental picture of Sebastian with a little girl. She looks like Jesca, but I realize it’s Anna. Sebastian is holding her in his arms. Then, he closes his eyes, and they both vanish into thin air.

I open my eyes, looking at Sebastian with a combination of intensity and fear. “Sebastian, what do I not know about Anna?”

My mind starts working a mile a millisecond. I know very few details about Anna’s past. She rarely talked about her childhood or family. She avoided questions about her life when I probed.

I stand and start to pace in front of Sebastian.

Sebastian says, “When Anna was young—ten years old, I believe—Elisabeth and Gabriel Gershon, my sister and brother-in-law, came to my estate in Colorado. They said that Anna had been having paralysis episodes. She also stared off into space, not acknowledging anyone around her, for sometimes as long as an hour. She woke up screaming every night from nightmares.

“The things she said scared the hell out of them. Elisabeth and Gabriel took her to the family doctor. He performed a physical evaluation, and she appeared to be fine. The family doctor sent them to neurological and psychiatric specialists. They said that Anna was suffering from seizures as well as psychotic episodes. The doctors recommended admitting her to a psychiatric institution.

“Elisabeth and Gabriel could do no such thing and immediately drove from Georgia to my estate in Colorado. I listened to them.

“I remembered Elisabeth suffering from these crippling nightmares when she was a child. She’d wake up screaming in the middle of the night. Mom would hush her back to sleep while Elisabeth would remain frozen, limp in my mother’s arms like a rag doll. My parents would excuse her nightmares, brushing them off as a result of an overactive imagination. But they weren’t just nightmares. They were premonitions.

“At my estate in Colorado, I had a highly qualified medical staff on hand. I also kept in contact with my metaphysical coach, Kenji, based out of Kyoto University in Japan. I asked him to come and observe Anna as soon as possible. I had Elisabeth, Gabriel, and Anna stay with me for a couple of weeks for observations.

“As soon as Kenji arrived, he observed her. Since he’d trained me, he was familiar with the underlying abilities I possessed, and he knew that Anna had inherited many of them.

“Elisabeth told Kenji how she remembered the fear of not being able to move. She said she’d told Mom in secrecy, but we’d been poor, and going to a doctor about such things had been considered a luxury.

“I can only imagine the guilt Elisabeth felt after realizing that what she’d suffered from had been passed on to her little girl.

“Kenji and the medical staff spoke with Elisabeth and Gabriel about Anna’s seizures. The seizures were caused by Anna’s inability to control the mental overload from her metaphysical abilities. She needed training and therapy to show her how to deal with her abilities, but she couldn’t do that without a greater mental capacity.

“Her little mind was not strong enough to know what to do with all of this. It was wreaking havoc on her. We had to try to find a way to increase her mental capacity.”

Sebastian paused, looking at me. Just then, a flashback comes flooding into my mind. I’m holding Jesca on the bookstore floor back in Georgia before her training at the facility. I try to shake the painful memory.

Sebastian sighs. “The Copula was a solution. Of course, Elisabeth and Gabriel were apprehensive at first. They had many questions. The staff and I provided answers and made sure they were comfortable with the benefits and risks. They quickly realized that the best thing for Anna would be to keep her close to Kenji and the medical staff. She would need observation after the implantation and during intense training. They remained in Dobria for ten years, and then they returned to Earth.

“It’s ironic in a way. Anna was the first person we implanted to save her life. Ultimately, she became the one that could stop the Sondian fellowship and save our lives. Until Samson Crest came along.”

I look away from Sebastian, stand, and tuck my hands into the pockets of my pants. “Anna knew Jesca would need the Copula because of the abilities she would one day inherit. We both agreed to implant her for her protection, but Anna knew she had to protect Jesca from the abilities growing within her.”

Sebastian nods, confirming everything I have said.

I blow out my lip, anticipating that Jesca might not forgive me for what I have kept from her about the copula and for what I have just learned from Sebastian about the familial reasons for implantation. I let out a guttural growl of frustration.

Sebastian leans back and closes his eyes, letting the sun warm his face. “Nate will be level-headed about it. Jesca will be mad and frustrated. Your intentions to protect her have always been pure at heart, and she will realize this. Telling young guardians what we are considering here is overwhelming. It provides them with a reason to run, instead of compelling them to stay and fight. We both know that Jesca is different. She will stay and want to understand what is within her. Jesca’s abilities are just beginning to surface.”

Sebastian opens his eyes and looks at me. “The abilities that are innate within her can be held at bay for only so long. Just as Anna did, Jesca will use them to fight for humanity, Ezra.”

I feel the wetness forming around my eyes. My vision blurs from the tears. “Yes, she will fight until the very end, just as Anna did. That is what I’m fearful of. Sam Crest will try to stop Jesca, just as he...stopped Anna. He is a shifter, Sebastian. He used his transfiguration as a dark force when he came for Jesca in Georgia. He will hunt her, and now, Corinna will hunt her as well.”

Sebastian puts his hand on my shoulder. “Whatever it takes, Ezra, we will not let him get a hold of Jesca.”

I watch as Sebastian’s confident smile suddenly fades. Seeing worry in his eyes, I ask, “What? What has happened?”

Sebastian answers, “Balthazar came to me soon after Samson left Miami to flee to Tokyo, Japan.”

My anxiety spikes again, knowing that it isn’t like Balthazar to visit his father. I’m not gentle with my accusatory words. “Why now? After all he has done?”

Sebastian shakes his head. The sunlight glistens in his reddened eyes, and Sebastian blinks, trying to keep the sorrow at bay. “I’m not sure what to believe about my son.”