Chapter 8
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S teele had no idea where he was going, but his feet moved as if they did, presumably back in the direction of the woods as he’d intended.
He couldn’t not go,… if for no other reason than to double-check what had happened and to contact Terk to ensure he was aware that something was going on in that space.
Whether Terk believed Steele or not was a whole different story, but Terk had mechanisms in place—or should have at least—and should check it all out, even from a distance.
Steele didn’t think that the Beacon had been set up as a dangerous stay-away deterrent mechanism, but he also didn’t know what kind of state that entire group was in right now. Maybe they were under attack too. Just the thought made him angry. He hadn’t considered that up until now.
What if they were in a lockdown themselves? What if they weren’t prepared to get out and do anything because they were in some difficulty? Steele had tried calling the old number he had, but the number was no longer in service. He should have asked Cyan for the current number.
Someone needed to check on Terk’s household, but he had no idea who else might be living there.
He knew a few people in this tight circle, but they were all private people, not likely to share personal information.
That was a downside of being an energy worker,…
the walls. He wasn’t part of the inner circle so didn’t have the same access others might.
Still, someone needed to know something weird was going on here in the woods, if for no other reason than to confirm that Terk and his group were okay.
Steele had a lot of confidence in Terk’s being able to handle anything coming his way, particularly with the rest of the team that he had built up around him.
Steele knew good men were there, but there were also women.
Plus, from what Cyan had suggested, babies were there too.
And that kind of energy was both fabulous and infinitely more dangerous.
It was raw energy.
It was energy that could be tweaked and could be used by people with less-than-good intentions. It had to be protected at all costs. Given that understanding, the Beacon’s existence made total sense.
Frowning, and worried that something was going on that he couldn’t really get a lock on because he’d been attacked, Steele now realized that could explain the attack on him.
He might have interrupted an attack on Terk’s place.
Or the Beacon literally saw him as a threat and dropped him, which was something else he hadn’t considered.
Did the Beacon have that capability? Or did it observe another person in the woods and just watched as Steele had been attacked?
Either way meant the Beacon itself was a danger to Terk and to everyone around them.
Alternatively, had Steele been at the wrong place at the wrong time, and the Beacon was just a simple warning system?
Lost in thought, he walked until he heard a vehicle slow down, then pull up beside him. He stopped, turned, swearing as he recognized the driver. It was Cyan. She honked at him. He approached slowly, bending down to look in the slowly opening passenger window.
She leaned across the passenger seat to look at him. “Get in.”
He stared at her for a long moment before leaning in and asking, “Why? What are you up to?”
“I’m heading back over to the Beacon myself,” she replied. “I can’t leave something like that to come along and hurt someone else.”
He smiled. “That’s where I’m going—not to mention my wheels are still there.”
“I figured as much.” She glared at him as he got in. “You do know that you’re in no condition to fight, right?”
He laughed. “You don’t know me that well.”
“No, but I also saw you drop.”
He frowned at her. “You told me that you didn’t see who attacked me.”
She frowned right back. “Okay, I didn’t see you drop. I just saw that you had dropped.”
He raised one eyebrow. “If you had seen who it was, that would be a whole different story.”
“No, I didn’t,” she repeated, “and believe me that I’m cursing myself for not sticking around to make sure your sorry ass was safe.” When he glared at her, she shrugged. “I didn’t want the extra baggage.”
“Then you can let me out now,” he muttered, but she kept on driving. “Hey, I’m not looking to be a pain in the butt.” She grumbled something that was hard to decipher. “Yet I get that, from your perspective, I am.”
“Yes,” she declared, with a light chuckle. “You are… just a bit more than I bargained for, but this is the way it is. So we’ll deal with it.”
He didn’t say anything for a long moment.
She groaned. “Look. I’m not trying to be snippy.”
“Good,” he muttered. “I can’t imagine what you would be like if you were trying.” When she spun him a hard look, he burst out laughing.
It tugged a reluctant grin to her face, and she added, “Yeah, sorry. I’m apparently a little pissed off by this current turn of events.”
“Yeah, so am I,” he confirmed. “I don’t particularly like being attacked, and I really don’t like it when I don’t know the reason for it or who was behind it.”
She glanced over at him, and he knew she would have more questions. “Are you sure you don’t have any idea why or how somebody would attack you?”
“No, I don’t,” he stated. “Do I have enemies? Of course I do. Ask Terk if he has enemies.” He turned to her, and, when she didn’t say anything, he snapped, “You yourself, I’m sure, have more than your fair share.”
She gave half a groan and snapped right back, “Meaning that I’m such a witch, I should have extra?”
“No,” he denied, yet laughed. “Still, you’re fairly determined to do what you want, regardless of other people’s opinions. And I can imagine you have made an enemy or two in the process.”
“Yeah, maybe one or two,” she acknowledged, “but it’s always us against them, and that’s a challenge.”
“It doesn’t always have to be that way though,” he stated.
She frowned at him and returned to watch the road as she drove. “I don’t know what kind of Pollyanna attitude you have toward life,” she began, with a quirky laugh, “but, as far as I’m concerned, life is not that simple.”
“It’s always been that way for me. Were you always like this?”
“Since puberty,” she claimed. “I was one of those late-developing models. However, when it finally hit, I was pretty uncontrollable for a while. As I gained control over that aspect of my body, it seemed that other things changed. I didn’t have a close relationship with my family.
I didn’t have anybody to ask about what was happening.
I didn’t know of anybody in the family who had any kind of abilities.
So, in many ways, I’ve been winging it for a very long time. Hard to trust anyone, you know?”
“And it’s made you independent,” he noted, with a nod, “which is a good thing. Yet it’s also made you defensive, fiery, and cranky.”
“Sometimes,” she conceded. Then she had to laugh. “Maybe a lot of the time.”
“Yeah.” He just smiled at her, trying hard to suppress the laughter that wanted to break free. “Not necessarily bad.”
“No, not bad,” she agreed. “I’m generally quite even-tempered.”
“Something I’ve yet to see.”
“Something about this scenario has me on edge,” she shared. “I don’t like anything about it. I want to trust you, but something’s holding me back.”
“And you do know Terk and the others inside the castle?”
“Yes, but not sure who all is in the castle at this moment. I told him a while back that I was on the way but would take some time to get there. When I realized the Beacon was sending out signals, I got curious, so chose to follow it instead of just driving up to the front door. Although once I made that decision, the road itself was impassable—or at least shown to be that way. So, with a fork in the road, you can approach one of two ways. Once that choice is made, the other is removed as an option.”
“I’m not sure Terk knows when people are approaching,” Steele suggested. “He’s not a fool, but I suspect, when he set out the Beacon, either things went a little bit further than he expected or the Beacon itself is changing.”
Startled, she turned to him. “What? The machine is evolving?”
He shrugged. “It occurred to me while walking just now. Earlier I was concerned he was under attack, and I was maybe caught in the middle. Now I don’t know, but can’t stop considering the role and the permissions the Beacon controls.”
“I don’t like that concept,” she snapped, glaring at him.
He nodded and watched as her quick temper died again.
“Look. As soon as we contact them, we can figure it out,” she suggested. “I also tried contacting Terk but couldn’t get through. I’m a little worried for them myself.”
“My recent attack notwithstanding, I’m not exactly without skills,” Steele added. “I don’t know who my attacker was nor how he managed to cause me harm without my knowing.… That is not the norm for me.”
“No, but it happened,” she stated. “So, whether the norm or not, I don’t want you getting into trouble where I might need to step in and help.”
He wanted to be irritated at her, suggesting she would have to help him, but it was such a novelty that anybody cared enough to do so that it took him aback.
She glanced at him. “Did I surprise you?”
“Yeah, I think you probably did,” he admitted. “I can’t think of the last time anybody thought to help me.”
Curious, she frowned and asked, “Are you usually so self-sufficient? I presume that’s a learned response?”
“Yes, of course it is,” he said, “but it’s not an issue.”
Something in his tone suggested otherwise. “ Great , that’s perfect. So I can go off and do my own thing.”
“And what does going off and doing your own thing look like?” he asked curiously.
She shrugged. “I’ll check on Terk and ask him if he really intended his Beacon to be the way it is. Which, considering it is his, you would think so,” she added.
“Yes, you would think so, but I’m not sure that’s quite fair,” Steele clarified, “because I don’t know that he would have put anything into play that could hurt somebody—at least not on purpose.”
“I don’t know that anybody is getting hurt because of this Beacon,” she corrected. “That would imply that whatever happened to you was part of Terk’s plan, even a contingency one in case of danger.”
“I’m not sure it was,” he admitted. “Sure, the Beacon is a warning system to alert everybody on the grounds that somebody is coming. Yet also, and I think more importantly, it was intended to be an invitation for those of us who work with energy to connect with similar individuals.”
She nodded. “I get that. I really do. I’m just not sure it was the wisest thing he could have done because you know this just attracts the wrong element of people.”
“Probably not the wisest decision,” he agreed immediately, “but I don’t think somebody like Terk will step back from something like that.
If anything, he’ll continue to put more safeguards up to keep everybody safe.
” They kept driving for a little bit longer, and Steele asked, “Where exactly are we going?”
“To your vehicle. I want to know where you arrived from and whether anybody would have seen you from that point on.”
He didn’t answer, and, when they came upon his SUV, he hopped out, with her at his side, and walked around it. He checked the vehicle to see that everything was okay. Then he looked back at her and said, “I’m going back in.” At her frown, he nodded. “I get it. You don’t want me to.”
“It’s not even that,” she began. “I don’t want you to just jump right back in, since you can’t be wholly healed yet and since we don’t know what we’re dealing with. I don’t really want you getting hurt again.”
He smiled, trying hard to hold back that whole weird sense of insult mixed with pleasure that she cared, and replied, “If you want to come with me, we can approach it together.”
She didn’t say anything, stared at him for a long moment, and then just nodded. She turned and headed for the obvious pathway into the forest.
He glanced around, still seeing the heavy fog blocking the road, yet the path was lit up, showing the correct way to travel. At least the correct way according to the Beacon…