Page 63 of Dark Witch: Twin Destinies

Against all odds, the twins had survived.

The rest of the chambers held only death. All eighteen Kra-ell were gone.

Julian straightened up and turned to Aru. "We need to close the stasis chambers, including the live ones. They're too fragile to transport without its protection, and I don't recommend reviving them here."

"Of course not," Aru agreed and motioned for Dagor to follow the doctor's recommendation. "We'll need to take them to the keep like this and revive them there. It's the only safe place I can think of, and I hope Kian won't object. The clinic in the keep is ideal for what they need."

"Don't seal the twins' chambers," the doctor cautioned. "Just close them without locking them. Is that possible?"

Dagor nodded. "I get what you want to do. You want some air to get in."

Julian nodded.

While Dagor set about sealing the chambers, Aru sat down on one of the closed ones. "We will need a private plane to transport them. It's not like we can show up with twenty stasis chambers in the airport, thrall everyone to ignore us, and load them into the cargo bay."

"You need to call Kian," Julian said. "Leave the logistics to him and Turner. Possibly, Kalugal can help as well. He has connections in China."

48

JASMINE

Jasmine shifted uncomfortably on the hard rock that served as her chair. Her injured ankle barely bothered her anymore, but she'd been sitting there for hours, and her butt was getting numb.

She'd thought about pulling a sleeping bag out of her backpack and folding it under her, but she already felt utterly useless, and getting comfortable while others worked to save the people trapped in the pod didn't seem right.

Straining her ears, she tried to get some hints about what was happening below, but she didn't hear a thing.

Edgar and the other pilot were in the same boat, standing near the edge with their eyes fixed on the gaping maw of the chasm. She was a little put off that Edgar hadn't tried to engage in a conversation with her as she'd expected, but then he was probably just as curious as she was about what was going on.

She wondered when they would thrall the other pilot to forget what he had seen. Would it be by the end of today? They should, or he could tell someone, and they wouldn't even know.

Norbu, or Nubru, she wasn't sure how to pronounce his name, leaned down and peered into the darkness with a look of confusion on his face. "Why did you need a doctor to come out here?"

Edgar hesitated momentarily, his eyes flicking to Jasmine before answering. "One of our team members was injured on the way down," he said smoothly, the lie rolling off his tongue with practiced ease. "The team leader called the doctor, and he also asked me to bring more research equipment."

"What's down there?" The pilot asked.

Edgar shrugged. "How should I know? I'm just the delivery guy. Maybe they found some fossils." He winked at Jasmine behind the guy's back.

Norbu looked skeptical, but he didn't press the issue. Instead, he turned his attention back to the chasm.

Jasmine had to hide a smile at the deftness of Edgar's story. He was quite good at spinning tales, as she had noted when they had crafted the sexy story leading to their first time together.

He was fun to be with, and it was a shame that she didn't feel about him as strongly as he felt about her. Well, to be honest, she wasn't sure he felt all that strongly about her either. If he had been so taken with her, he would have come looking for her in the lower decks of his own accord and not waited for Amanda to announce that she was looking for a companion for Jasmine and signal that it was okay to see her.

"You should go back to the helicopter and wait there," Edgar told Norbu.

He must have thralled the guy because the other pilot obeyed without question and walked away.

"Did you compel him?" Jasmine asked.

Edgar sat down next to her on the other boulder. "I can't compel. I can only thrall. Sometimes they work the same, though. I just planted the idea in his head that waiting in the cockpit is much more comfortable."

"That's a good one." Jasmine shifted on the flat rock that served as her chair. "Maybe I should do the same."

"You can. Do you want to sit in mine?"

She shook her head. "I'm too anxious about what they are going to find down there to move away from this rock."

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