Chapter Forty-Six
Saphyra
I t was just a door.
That’s what I told myself as I approached the yawning black hole in the wall. Decorative stone steps leading up to a terrace with an ornate entryway shouldn’t be this terrifying.
I knew this place. I could picture every hall and room as long as I didn’t think about it too hard. Once I tried to focus my thoughts, they’d evaporate like smoke through my fingers. But I also knew that what was beyond that threshold was not the same as what I’d left. It wasn’t the same as my illusive memories would have me believe.
Cold sweat broke out across my skin, and I swallowed the lump in my throat. I had to remind myself to breathe, one gulp of salty sea air at a time. There was no reason to be afraid. Anything I remembered was ten years in the past and couldn’t hurt me anymore. At least, not physically.
I took each step on trembling legs, and when I walked out of the sun into the cool embrace of the shadows, nothing happened. There wasn’t a flood of traumatic memories. I wasn’t overcome with emotion. It was just a quiet entry hall with unfamiliar soot-stained holes dotting the towering ceilings.
A nervous laugh bubbled from my lungs, but I bit it back. I silently congratulated myself for not breaking down yet, but there was no way to know what was waiting around the next corner.
Ghost and Grey followed me into the grand foyer. Grey’s brows pulled together and his eyes filled with concern. He didn’t have to say a word. His emotions shimmered through the bond.
“I’m okay,” I reassured him. “So far, I feel all right. I was just nervous, not knowing what to expect.” My smile was sincere, and I hoped that might set his heightened worry at ease.
Boot tracks peppered the soot covered marble floors. The slick white stone used to gleam, but now it was dull and coated in black filth. The gracefully carved wooden banisters that ran up the sides of the twin staircases were gone. In their place, blackened stubs of charcoal. It didn’t look the same as it had, but in some ways, I still recognized it.
“We should check the shield. If you’re ready,” Ghost said, eyeing the destruction.
“Even if I’m not, I have no choice. There’s no time to waste.” I reached for Grey and he tucked my hand into his.
This was really happening.
When I was a child, I’d never questioned the rainbows in the sky, it just was. As time and my education went on at the Hive, the memories faded. Now that it was returning, I wondered how I’d ever forgotten such a thing.
“Grey, do you know what happened when I was brought to the Hive?” I asked as we walked side by side, following Ghost down a darkened stone corridor.
His hand turned cold and rigid in mine, and his nervousness shot through the bond like an electric pulse.
“I looked through your medical records. Mind you, I wasn’t there, so I’m not sure of the details. That was before my time. But my Aunt Iris, your old nurse, told me stories about you as a child. Was there something you were curious about?” he asked with false casualness.
He knew what they’d done to me.
I was hesitant to push him on the topic, but I needed to know. “It seems unnatural, the gaps in my memories. Sometimes a memory is there, but when I focus on it, it’s just out of reach. Other times, it’s perfectly clear or gone completely.”
His palm was moist in my grip and our bond vibrated with uncertainty, but he pulled me closer and slid his arm around my waist. “They gave you a serum that inhibited the synapse between neurons that control memory function. As soon as you have a solid reference to a thing or event, those connections should reform. The most they could do was repress that association, not erase the memories. Don’t worry. It’s all still in there.”
That was exactly why I was worried. There were some things I didn’t think I wanted to remember. There wasn’t time to fret over it right now, though. So I rested my head on his shoulder as we continued to trail in Ghost’s wake.
We followed a sloping corridor for a long while. This part of the palace was off limits when I was small. Despite that, I recognized it. The hall cut through the bedrock of the cliff that the castle perched on and tunneled below the outer fortification to the furthest turret. The door at the end was always locked.
Today, it stood ajar.
Shadows moved beyond the threshold, and when we entered, I was shocked by what was hidden inside. The cylindrical tower was open to the sky at the top, but in the center was a ten-foot diameter pit clad in gray metal.
“What is this?” I asked no one in particular.
Shadow and Lex glanced up from the console they’d been studying on the far side of the enormous hole.
“This is the condenser core. It’s supposed to run the planetary defense shield, but it’s unresponsive.” Lex motioned us over.
The knobs and dials were gibberish to me. I’d never been past the tower door before today. Never seen anything like the control panel at all.
Ghost stepped up with an excited grin on his face. “I think I can figure this out.”
“How long do we have?” I regretted wasting time in the stables now. I hadn’t considered that the shield controller wouldn’t work at all. Although, I should have.
Ghost paused, studying the console. “I radioed Albion when we arrived. We should have about two hours before they attempt the atmosphere. Even without the condenser running, the magnetic field is strong and only getting stronger. It won’t stop them as it is, but it could slow them down.”
“But they’d still have to find us, right? To… to do whatever they plan to do.” I hesitated to say that they were probably going to kill us. I didn’t want to think about that now, not when we were this close. But we knew what might happen if the enemy made it to the surface.
Lex stepped away from Shadow and Ghost. He tipped my chin up on the tip of his finger. “And where do you suppose they would look first?”
My teeth clicked together in frustration. “Here.”
His lips turned up in a sad grin. “Very likely.”
We were sitting ducks unless we could fix the shield condenser core. The castle was ancient and not equipped with protection from the Imperatrix’s weapons. It was built before space travel or even air travel was an option. The walls were decorative, unable to stop even the most basic of current technology. Plasma weapons could cut through that pretty, soft stone like warm butter.
I had no doubt my mates would fight to the end, but three alphas, a beta, and an omega wouldn’t last long against an armada of Imperatrix ships.
While Lex had my attention, Ghost ducked under the console and rummaged around. When he surfaced, he dragged a wiring harness along with him. The tips of each strand of cable were shiny and jagged, sheared off from whatever they should’ve been connected to.
“That looks bad.” I didn’t know what else to say. It was obvious we were all thinking the same thing.
Ghost scraped his fingers through his spiky white hair. “Mmm… It could be worse?” His chuckle lacked his normal mirth.
Lex turned back to the console where Ghost was sitting on the metal floor. “Can you fix it?”
“Well, yeah. There’s power from the solar cells, but it’s going to take a while to rewire the whole thing.” Ghost let go of the harness, and it swung limply under the control panel, taunting us with its uselessness. “I need some equipment.”
He hopped up and gave my butt a swat when he walked past on his way to get his pack from the stable. It was nice to see he wasn’t in a panic, because my heart was working overtime.
The relative calm presented by my mates bolstered my courage. We’d come for more than just the shield, though. “I want to take a look around. There could be answers that were overlooked.”
No one questioned it.
“Valyx, stay here in case Ax needs help. We’ll be back soon.” Lex squeezed Shadow’s shoulder before leading the way out of the tower and up the sloped hall toward the keep.
As scared as I was of what we might find. I needed to do this, even if it hurt.