CHAPTER FIFTEEN #2
Asterin and Siya roared again and rammed the table into his stomach, practically folding the technician in half. Jeffrey let out a high-pitched scream, although the noise rapidly trailed off into a raspy gurgle.
Asterin and Siya shuffled back, still holding the table between them, and set it down. I sprinted into the control room and aimed my blaster at Jeffrey, but his eyes rolled up into the back of his head, and he toppled to the floor.
“It’s about time you got here,” Asterin said. “I thought Siya and I were going to have to rescue ourselves.”
I grinned at my friend’s dark humor. “Looks to me like the two of you were doing a pretty good job of it. Now, hold still and turn your head away.”
Asterin did as I asked, and I used the blaster to shoot her chain free from the table. Then I went around and did the same thing to Siya’s chain.
“Thanks for the assist, Vesper.” Siya nodded at me.
I lifted the blaster to my forehead in a mock salute. “Anytime.”
Still wearing the cuffs, Siya jogged past me and headed out into the hallway. She crouched down and rifled through the pockets of a dead Hammer’s jacket. She let out a cry of triumph and pulled out a set of keys, which she used to open the cuffs on her wrists.
Siya jogged back into the control room with the key and opened Asterin’s cuffs.
“What happened?” I asked.
“We were watching the holograms of you and Kyrion when the four Hammers came into the control room,” Siya replied.
“They claimed they wanted to watch you two go through the maze since Kyrion was an Arrow, so we all gathered around the table. The second Asterin and I turned our backs, the Hammers overpowered us, took our weapons, and slapped cuffs on our wrists.” Her nostrils flared with disgust. “Roderick didn’t even have the balls to come here and fight us himself. ”
Asterin flinched at the venom in Siya’s voice, but she didn’t chime in.
“And then?” I asked.
“And then Jeffrey sicced that Black Scarab on you and gave Roderick the all clear to enter the maze and start hunting Kyrion,” Siya replied. “You know the rest.”
I went over and crouched down beside Jeffrey. The technician’s eyes were closed, but his chest moved up and down in a steady rhythm. I slapped him across the face a few times, just in case he was faking, but he was out cold.
Frustration surged through me, but I stepped over Jeffrey and took his place at the control panel.
Two holograms hovered in the air—Roderick, in his red armor, and Kyrion, who bore a small black X on his right forearm, the same spot where I’d felt that telltale sting earlier.
But the injury didn’t seem to be bothering Kyrion, who was facing off with Roderick.
The hologram of Kyrion waved his hand, using his telekinesis to lift some object I couldn’t see. An instant later, a blaster bolt streaked through the air toward him.
“No!” I yelled, and flung my hand out, as though I could stop the bolt, even though I wasn’t in the maze.
The sticky cobweb of Kyrion exploded with pain.
A white-hot spike rammed through my left hand, and I hissed and recoiled in shock.
In an instant, my skin turned a bright, vivid red like I had just grabbed a steaming brewmaker with my bare hand.
The pain of the injury throbbed through my entire body, keeping time to the frantic, worried beat of my heart.
If the injury was this painful for me, it must be devastating for Kyrion.
I gritted my teeth and ignored the psionic echoes of Kyrion’s pain as best I could.
I focused on the control panel again, looking at the embedded holoscreens and the knobs and levers.
I started to hit a blue button, then abruptly stopped.
I didn’t know what the button controlled, and I might unleash some trap or obstacle that would further injure Kyrion.
I growled with frustration and paced back and forth in front of the control panel. I stopped long enough to kick Jeffrey in the ribs, but the technician remained unconscious.
Siya scooped up her war hammer from a table in the back, and the lunarium weapon lit up with the bright green flare of her magic.
“Now what?” Asterin asked, grabbing a small silver blaster from the same table.
Siya twirled her hammer around in her hand. “Now we see if any more of these bastards are in the facility.” She looked at me and frowned. “Vesper? Why aren’t you taking control of the maze?”
Anger and frustration simmered through my veins. “Because I can’t figure out what all these blasted buttons do, and I don’t want to hit the wrong one and make things worse for Kyrion.”
My anger drained away, replaced by a cold fist of dread that squeezed my heart. “I have to get back to the maze. I have to help Kyrion.”
I moved away from the panel, but Siya stepped forward, blocking my path.
“You’ll never make it in time,” she said, her voice not unkind. “The maze is huge, and Kyrion went in on the far side of the facility.”
Asterin nodded. “Siya is right. We’ll clear this level, then head down to the maze. You stay here and keep working on the controls. You can figure it out, Vesper. I know you can.”
“Me too,” Siya chimed in.
My friends stared at me, and the belief shining in their eyes made the fist of dread loosen around my heart. I blew out a breath and nodded at them.
“Okay, you two make sure there are no more Hammers lurking around. I’ll try to reach Kyrion through the control panel. Maybe I can figure out how to guide him away from Roderick or at least put some obstacles between them.”
Weapons in their hands, Siya and Asterin ran out of the room.
I kicked Jeffrey in the ribs again, but the technician remained limp and unconscious. I growled and stalked back over to the control panel.
“Okay, Vesper,” I muttered. “You can figure this out. It’s just like any control panel in the R&D lab. Just focus on one thing at a time.”
I drew in a deep breath, filling my lungs with air, then whooshed it out.
I had an oxygen optimization, or O2, enhancement, which meant that a special liquid had been injected into my lungs that dramatically increased their capacity and functionality.
To me, breathing in and out had a great soothing effect, and the simple action of holding and releasing my breath worked its magic yet again.
Calmer, I leaned down and peered at the buttons.
A few were labeled with words like fog and water, but I had no idea where they were in the maze or how large—or dangerous—an element they might create.
I could push all the buttons I wanted, but if I didn’t affect the environment around Kyrion, then I wouldn’t help him at all.
Instead of hitting a button, I waved my hand over the holoscreens embedded in the panel.
The screens flared with light, but they didn’t project any new images up into the air.
The figures of Kyrion and Roderick were still flickering over one screen, but I didn’t get a sense of their location, and I couldn’t figure out how to pull up a map.
In its own way, the control panel was also a maze, and I was running out of time to navigate it.
I slapped the edge of the panel in frustration, making the lights blink, as though they were chiding me for treating them so harshly.
The holograms of Kyrion and Roderick also flickered again.
The motion reminded me of the memories that filled the doors in my mindscape.
A growl escaped my lips. Right now, I needed to see what Kyrion was seeing, not a memory from my past or a vision of a possible future—
Wait. Why couldn’t I see what Kyrion was seeing?
I’d been so focused on trying to use his telepathy and telekinesis that I hadn’t considered how my own abilities might be useful in this situation.
In the maze, I’d used my seer magic to spot the broken lizard statue and the trident and turn them into weapons.
Now I just needed to do the same thing to myself.
I chewed my lower lip, my mind whirring. A few weeks ago, I’d walked through a door in my mindscape and astrally projected myself into Zane’s library at Castle Zimmer, even though I had never been there before in real life. Why couldn’t I do the same thing again now?
Maybe the answer to helping Kyrion wasn’t a button on the control panel. Maybe it was my own magic.
As soon as the idea popped into my mind, I could see how it might—might—work.
Aldrich and Verona Collier had sent us to the training facility to deepen and strengthen our truebond, but part of that included Kyrion and me learning more about our own individual powers and how they might complement our respective psionic abilities.
“Bond of two,” I whispered. “Tried and true.”
Asterin had told Kyrion and me to use that code phrase if we ever needed help from the Hammers, but now I could see the deeper meaning in the words.
I blew out another breath and braced my hands on the edge of the control panel. Then I closed my eyes and reached for my seer power.
It was time to put my own magic to the test.
For a moment, everything was black. Then light bloomed, and I found myself in the corridor of an old-fashioned castle—Castle Caldaren, Kyrion’s home on Corios.
Normally, I would have taken a moment to admire the fine furnishings, but Kyrion was running out of time, so I sprinted past the tables and chairs made of real wood, stone, and glass.
My boots smacked out a soft rhythm on the plush rugs.
I careened around a grandfather clock and sprinted into a library filled with shelves of real paper books.
A silver-framed portrait of a young Kyrion and his parents hung over the fireplace, and Desdemona Caldaren turned her head and smiled at me the way she always did whenever I came in here.
I moved past the Regal lady and waved my hand. A door appeared in the wall close to the fireplace and flung itself open, and I charged through to the other side.