Chapter 11 #3
I stare at him, my mouth gaping. I actually thought we were getting somewhere. And then, without so much as an explanation, I’m talking to the Mace I met at the beginning of the mission. Cold, closed-off.
‘I thought we were past this.’
‘When I saw you the other day in his tent—’ Mace says.
‘Enough.’ I feel like I’ve had the verbal equivalent of a huge bucket of icy water dumped over my head. I clamber down the willow tree at my top speed, which isn’t fast at all. ‘Come on,’ I say. ‘We’re settling this once and forever.’
Mace is following me hesitantly, but it’s time that we put this crap to rest. Stella would know if there was a genuine Pairing Link forming between me and Allen – her programme has been trained to detect that kind of thing – so she’d be able to give us answers.
Xandra is collapsing her tent, while Allen is sitting in the dirt, his legs crossed, sorting plants into separate bags, and Julian is watching something on his ART again.
‘Allen,’ I say, ‘I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but you and I are apparently supposed to be building a Pairing Link.’
His eyebrows jut so high that I swear they’re about to touch his hairline. He looks at Xandra. ‘So, this is why you’re being weird in the past few days?’
‘Nobody was being weird,’ Xandra mutters.
Julian puts down his ART. ‘Oh, this is getting interesting.’
‘So,’ I say, folding my arms, ‘care to summon Stella with me, to put this wild rumour to rest?’
Allen gets up slowly, wiping his hands on his trousers. ‘Sure.’
I bend down to touch my hands to the earth, and send a pulse of my magic to find one of Stella’s connection points. The campsites we’re being sent to aren’t random; they’re in places with a high density of sensors, so that Command can watch the progress of our mission.
Not exactly the best feeling in the world, knowing that even out here we’re being watched, but there’s nothing I can do about it.
As expected, Stella replies instantly, projecting her image into the middle of the camp. ‘Ellie?’ she says. ‘What is it?’
‘Could you quantify if a Pairing Link is forming between two people?’ I say, cutting straight to the point.
‘I could, but it’s only standard procedure for citizens who find themselves within The Citadel,’ she says.
‘Like, what happens in the wilds stays in the wilds?’ I joke, to hide my nerves.
This could go spectacularly belly-up if there is a Pairing Link between me and Allen – and it could end in a minor catastrophe, considering we’re mid-mission and Command might decide to wrench us apart – but then I realise that I don’t want to have a Pairing Link with Allen, and this is a bit comforting, because they never form against someone’s will.
‘Something like that,’ Stella says. ‘What exactly are you asking, and about whom?’
I take a deep breath and carefully avoid Mace’s gaze.
‘Are Allen and I building a Pairing Link?’ My heart climbs in my throat because I desperately don’t want it to be true. I know who makes my heart race.
‘Finally. I couldn’t wait to set you straight.’
Set me straight, who denied it, or set Mace straight, who wouldn’t let the idea of the Pairing Link go?
My chest tightens. Before I can ask, Stella says. ‘Okay. Both of you, send me a pulse of magic. At the same time.’
I bend to the ground, and Allen mirrors my motions. He winks at me. It’s going to be just fine.
‘Now,’ Stella says, and we each send a pulse of power. I feel my magic sliding comfortably along Allen’s, not repelling it, but not trying to weave itself with his, either.
Stella taps her lips and I slowly rise to my feet, my heart pounding. A Pairing Link is something permanent. Irreversible. The partners may be separated, but the link never breaks.
Mercifully, Stella says, ‘There is no Pairing Link forming between Ellie and Allen. Not even a hint.’
I hear Mace’s sharp exhale behind me, but I’m too much of a coward to turn around and say something, or even to try and read his expression.
‘This doesn’t prove anything,’ Xandra says.
I roll my eyes and focus on Stella. ‘So what kind of magical link is there between us?’ I ask her, because something is there, undeniably.
Stella hums before she replies, ‘I don’t have access to this kind of information anymore.’
I frown. ‘Who does?’
‘This information isn’t included in this block,’ Stella stares into my eyes.
I jolt on the spot. This sounds awfully familiar.
‘Is Central Command aware that there are external information blocks?’ Allen asks carefully. ‘That can’t be accessed from within The Citadel?’
‘A Central Command separated five blocks on information, one hundred and seventy-five years ago,’ Stella says. ‘New information is regularly set apart, added to those troves.’
I take in a sharp breath. As we found out in the cave, Central Command keeps hiding things from us. Even from Stella.
‘What kind of information?’ Mace probes.
‘Access denied,’ says Stella. ‘You don’t have the security clearance.’
All of us exchange gazes, not brave enough to voice the questions on our minds. What does Central Command have to hide? And why don’t they want us to find it?