Page 88 of Treasure of the Abyss

The anger on her face slowly faded. She held his gaze and sighed. “I know, Jax. I know. But I can’t stay in there all day, every day. I need—” her eyes drifted to Arkon, “—someone to talkto.”

“You can talk to me, Macy,” Jaxsaid.

“You haven’t beenhere!”

He gritted his teeth and released a long breath through his nostrils. She was right. He’d been gone often, and for long periods of time; why wouldn’t she be restless, staring at the same walls everyday?

Closing the remaining distance between them, he stopped in front of her and looked into the unfathomable depths of her eyes. “I amsorry.”

Macy placed her hand on his chest. He covered it with his own and leaned down, pressing his forehead tohers.

“Don’t pull away from me, Jax,” she saidsoftly.

“I’m not trying to.” He closed his eyes and took in her scent, letting it wash over his senses and permeate him. It had changed subtly over the last few weeks, and, somehow, had become only more alluring tohim.

She drew back and smiled. “And I was safe. I’ve been with Arkon since I left the cabins, and I have the weapons you gaveme.”

Arkon nodded when Jax glanced at him. He trusted Arkon to risk his life in defense of Macy, but it was still hard to accept that he’d allowed her protection to fall to someoneelse.

“She is quite openly appreciative of my work,” Arkon said. “Perhaps you should have her teach you how to properly complimentme.”

The high, sweet sound of Macy’s laughter shattered Jax’s lingering worry; here, now, all was well, and Macy was safe and happy. Even if it was fleeting, it was precious enough not to be ignored ordismissed.

“What are the two of you doing in here anyway?” Jax asked. The room wasn’t often visited by kraken — not that many of themwere.

“Macy knows how to read.” Arkon’s smile was broader than Jax had seen in a longwhile.

He looked from Arkon to Macy and back again questioningly. “What does that have to do with your beinghere?”

“She thinks she might be able to access new information on the Computer. About our kind, about this place…abouteverything.”

“Can you?” Jax returned his attention toMacy.

“I can try. You got here right after we did, so I haven’t done anythingyet.”

Jax and Arkon moved to watch over Macy’s shoulder as she brought up a projected screen full of symbols. The images moved when her fingers touched them, sliding aside or vanishing altogether, only for new symbols toappear.

“Welcome,” said the Computer. Its voice, emanating only from the console, seemed smaller. “Please enter your authorization code toproceed.”

“A code? Hmm…” Macy tapped at thescreen.

“Accessdenied.”

She touched several moresymbols.

“Accessdenied.”

Macy stared down at the console, drumming her fingers atop it. She raised her hand to the projection, finger extended, and stopped, glancing at Jax. “What’s the code you use to get into thisbuilding?”

Jax leaned forward, and Macy stepped aside to allow him a closer look at the symbols. They were all meaningless to him, but a few were familiar — he realized suddenly they were same as those beside the entrydoor.

“This one first,” Arkon said, pointing to one. Macy pressedit.

Slowly, Jax and Arkon ran through the remaining symbols. They were arranged in a different order on the projection, and it was difficult to piece together a sequence that had long ago become second nature. His hand knew the keypad’s buttons by touch, remembered the distance between each, the order in which they needed to bepressed.

“Access granted,” the computer said, and the screen changedabruptly.

“I can’t believe that actually worked.” The screen cast a soft blue glow upon Macy’s smiling face as she read. “HaloriumProject?”

---