Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 110089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
I close my eyes, take a long breath in through my nose and release it slowly from my mouth. I push a steady hum through the heel of my hand. The garnet brightens, takes the current, and returns it on a higher pulse. Air catches in my chest as the flow enters, runs across my clavicle, rides my brachial plexus, crosses to my spine, and settles along the ribs. The pattern holds. The stone and I meet on the same frequency and lock. Maybe that’s the key. We’ve got theories and partial proofs. We don’t have the full map. Matter carries energy. Energy carries information. The fit between my field and this crystal stays true every time.
Finally, my eyelids open. The tear in my shoulder knits from the inside first. Heat climbs, then eases.
The pain is excruciating, and I should take several hours to fix myself. I don’t have time. Ella hasn’t given me that time. So I push to get it done, my knees weakening from the agony.
Pain flares hot and cutting for too long before dropping to a dull throb. Ceiling fans pick up a few cycles, and the room adjusts to the load without complaint. The garnet dims by a notch, so I ease more of my own energy store into it, not just surface current but the deeper charge that feels personal and specific. Essence, if that word must stand. The transfer stabilizes the crystal, and a dark red color returns to her center.
I hold contact and keep count. Ten breaths. Twenty. A minute. I’m going to spank Ella’s small ass raw for this. God knows what kind of damage I’m doing to my body by rushing the healing process.
The pulse under my hand and the rack hum fall into a clean ratio. I add my second hand to the facet and test for resistance. None presents. The stone still has headroom, so I give more. My shoulder tightens once and lets go. I lower my arm and stretch it carefully, noting that my range of motion returns without instability. The edges of the wound seal. A band of heat remains. Functional is enough.
Hopefully I didn’t just give myself permanent damage. I’ll find out later.
I think about the day I worked the damaged crystal that was killing Thorn. It never bound to me and didn’t push back. Although it drained me and led to the mess I’m in right now. The sensitivity in my auditory cortex somehow went from nuisance to pain. Voices that only irritated me before now turn into knives on my nerves. We pulled Thorn out with energy workers in a circle, a timed sequence, and a set of stones that weren’t supposed to share a room. Chance and pressure made it hold. I don’t think we’ll ever reproduce that again, which sucks for me.
This garnet still answers me. That means something. The hole in my shoulder is closed now but still aches beneath the muscle. The stone has given what she can on this pass. I lift my hands. The glow steadies at a lower value, and the server noise eases my pulse. Static clears from my head.
I then open the server room door into the main floor. Cold air spills out and thins. Kaz looks up from the console and lifts a hand to stop me at the threshold. “All better now?”
“The only thing I want from you is Ella’s location.” I walk past him.
“Why do you have to be such a dick?”
Fire runs from my shoulder into my biceps, stretching a muscle with pain. “Would you just shut up?” I snap.
Kaz blinks once and tilts his head. He keeps his hands on the edge of the console and watches me without moving.
We’re rarely alone. I avoid him when I can. When I can’t, Thorn usually sits between us and tells us both to shut up.
“What’s your problem?” Kaz says, eyes still on me, voice rough from too much coffee and not enough sleep.
“I don’t like you, and I don’t like when you talk.” It is as close as I’ll give him to the truth. Sound grinds in my head when it comes out the wrong throat. His is the wrong throat.
“Your brother likes me just fine,” he says, rolling one shoulder as he drops into his chair.
“That’s because you’re the best computer programmer in the city. In the world.” Maybe Ella’s better. I don’t say that. “Did you find Ella Rendale?” My palm actually heats with the need to meet her ass. Hard. I can’t believe she ran away during a fucking firefight.
He mutters under his breath. I think about putting a bullet in his head. Thorn would be pissed if he came back and his top computer guy was a stain on the floor. Shit happens. Kaz catches the thought on my face or reads the angle of my shoulders and drops his gaze to the keys.