Page 66 of Legacy of Chaos

Cyan didn’t know how long she’d been working in the platform’s engine room, using her skills to disrupt the evil fog outside. She’d been able to create a narrow band of positive energy around the rig that kept the mist from touching it. The band was only about ten feet wide, but it was enough to discourage some of the malevolent creatures from getting onto the platform.

The catch was that if she didn’t monitor her weaves, they unraveled the moment she left the engine room. But if she could get one of the mages to add their power to hers, she might be able to finally get out of this hot, stifling chamber.

The main door swung open, and Stryke and Taran burst through the hatch. “Between the mages and our weapons, we’ve beaten back the demons,” Taran said. “But I don’t know for how long. The heat signatures from the rift are getting bigger, and the crack is growing.” He slicked his hair back from his face as he looked around. “Why is it so quiet in here? I usually need to yell to be heard.”

“I got tired of the noise,” she said. “I wove a silence spell into the machinery.”

Stryke gave her an approving nod. “Nice.” He started toward her. “We got new images of the rift you might want to see.”

“Did you bring them? I can’t leave unless you can get a mage in here.”

Taran reached for the door handle. “Hold on. I’ll download the images. Give me ten.” He took off, presumably for the FOC.

Stryke held out a bottle of water. “You hungry? The cafeteria is actually serving some hot food. I can grab something for you.”

She gratefully took the water and shook her head as she twisted off the cap. “No. I just want off this thing. I swear I’m never going near the sea or ocean again.” She took a huge gulp. “Have you heard anything from Blade?”

“Comms are still down.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have broken the link with him,” she suggested, more than a little annoyed by his refusal to do the smart thing.

“Maybe it’s none of your business.”

“Excuse me?” The plastic bottle crinkled in her tight, irritated grip. “None of my business? You brought me here to fix a potentially catastrophic rift between the human and demon realms, and I’m probably going to die. So, yeah, it’s my business when you endanger us all. I can’t believe I fell for your bullshit,” she snapped. “I can’t believe I took you at your word when you said difficult answers require difficult decisions. You didn’t make the difficult decision here, Stryke. You made the easy one because you didn’t want to deal with your brother.”

He went still. “What did you say?”

“Oh, don’t get pissy,” she spat, frustrated by his stubbornness. “It’s obvious you don’t want to deal with your brother.”

“Not that,” he ground out. “The difficult answers thing.”

“Oh.” She blinked. Sometimes, he was hard to follow. A little calmer now, she explained. “When I was in school, you came back to your alma mater to speak to my class. You talked about having to make difficult choices at such a young age.”

“I remember that,” he said, frowning. “I didn’t think anyone actually listened.”

“I listened.” She remembered every word, every gesture, every detail of his lecture. “You were my hero, Stryke. And thenafter I saw you speak at my college, you became the reason I wanted to work for DART. You’re the reason I want to expand the lab and create our own weapons and defenses. But thanks to the crap going on with The Aegis, our funding was cut.”

“Thanks to my weapon, you mean.”

“Take it as you will.” She turned back to the wall of anti-fog glyphs only she could see, then realized she wasn’t done. Hell, no. He owed her. She wheeled back around to him. “What happened to you, Stryke? What changed? What happened to the cocky genius who laughed and shared his love of science with the world?”

For a long, tense moment, he stood there as still as a statue. His eyes grew haunted, and she swore she saw shadows writhing in their dark depths. The trauma lurking there made her regret her question.

“What changed?” he asked finally, his voice as haunted as his gaze. “What changed is that I killed my brother.”

Cyan’s expression slowly shifted from anger to surprise. And then disbelief.

Join the club.

Stryke couldn’t believe he’d actually said that. With the exception of Blade’s bullshit every couple of years or so, he hadn’t spoken about that day since then. Well, until his dad came to his office the other day.

Stryke had kept that part of his life buried deep, unwilling to open up about it to anyone. And now, in the middle of ahazardous situation, he’d just blurted it out. Invited questions. Exposed his throat and made himself vulnerable.

What was it about this female that made him so stupid?

He wanted a do-over. Wanted to finally get started on inventing a time machine so he could go back and change this moment.

Dolt. If you invent a time machine, Chaos never has to die.

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