Page 35 of Only Rogue Actions
“Me too,” Siya chimed in.
My friends stared at me, and the belief shining in their eyes made the fist of dread loosen around my heart.I blew out a breath and nodded at them.
“Okay, you two make sure there are no more Hammers lurking around.I’ll try to reach Kyrion through the control panel.Maybe I can figure out how to guide him away from Roderick or at least put some obstacles between them.”
Weapons in their hands, Siya and Asterin ran out of the room.
I kicked Jeffrey in the ribs again, but the technician remained limp and unconscious.I growled and stalked back over to the control panel.
“Okay, Vesper,” I muttered.“You can figure this out.It’s just like any control panel in the R&D lab.Just focus on one thing at a time.”
I drew in a deep breath, filling my lungs with air, then whooshed it out.I had an oxygen optimization, or O2, enhancement, which meant that a special liquid had been injected into my lungs that dramatically increased their capacity and functionality.To me, breathing in and out had a great soothing effect, and the simple action of holding and releasing my breath worked its magic yet again.
Calmer, I leaned down and peered at the buttons.A few were labeled with words likefogandwater, but I had no idea where they were in the maze or how large—or dangerous—an element they might create.I could push all the buttons I wanted, but if I didn’t affect the environment around Kyrion, then I wouldn’t help him at all.
Instead of hitting a button, I waved my hand over the holoscreens embedded in the panel.The screens flared with light, but they didn’t project any new images up into the air.The figures of Kyrion and Roderick were still flickering over one screen, but I didn’t get a sense of their location, and I couldn’t figure out how to pull up a map.In its own way, the control panel was also a maze, and I was running out of time to navigate it.
I slapped the edge of the panel in frustration, making the lights blink, as though they were chiding me for treating them so harshly.The holograms of Kyrion and Roderick also flickered again.The motion reminded me of the memories that filled the doors in my mindscape.A growl escaped my lips.Right now, I needed to see what Kyrion was seeing, not a memory from my past or a vision of a possible future—
Wait.Whycouldn’tI see what Kyrion was seeing?I’d been so focused on trying to use his telepathy and telekinesis that I hadn’t considered how myownabilities might be useful in this situation.In the maze, I’d used my seer magic to spot the broken lizard statue and the trident and turn them into weapons.Now I just needed to do the same thing to myself.
I chewed my lower lip, my mind whirring.A few weeks ago, I’d walked through a door in my mindscape and astrally projected myself into Zane’s library at Castle Zimmer, even though I had never been there before in real life.Why couldn’t I do the same thing again now?
Maybe the answer to helping Kyrion wasn’t a button on the control panel.Maybe it was my own magic.
As soon as the idea popped into my mind, I could see how it might—might—work.Aldrich and Verona Collier had sent us to the training facility to deepen and strengthen our truebond, but part of that included Kyrion and me learning more about our own individual powers and how they might complement our respective psionic abilities.
“Bond of two,” I whispered.“Tried and true.”
Asterin had told Kyrion and me to use that code phrase if we ever needed help from the Hammers, but now I could see the deeper meaning in the words.
I blew out another breath and braced my hands on the edge of the control panel.Then I closed my eyes and reached for my seer power.
It was time to put my own magic to the test.
Foramoment,everythingwas black.Then light bloomed, and I found myself in the corridor of an old-fashioned castle—Castle Caldaren, Kyrion’s home on Corios.Normally, I would have taken a moment to admire the fine furnishings, but Kyrion was running out of time, so I sprinted past the tables and chairs made of real wood, stone, and glass.
My boots smacked out a soft rhythm on the plush rugs.I careened around a grandfather clock and sprinted into a library filled with shelves of real paper books.A silver-framed portrait of a young Kyrion and his parents hung over the fireplace, and Desdemona Caldaren turned her head and smiled at me the way she always did whenever I came in here.
I moved past the Regal lady and waved my hand.A door appeared in the wall close to the fireplace and flung itself open, and I charged through to the other side.
A familiar set of spiral stairs appeared.I leaped down the stone steps two and three at a time, keeping my right hand on the railing for balance.At my touch, sigils lit up one after another along the length of the railing, but I ignored the mammoth butterflies flapping their wings and the stormswords crackling with fire, ice, lightning, and wind.
I leaped off the bottom step and sprinted into an enormous round room.Blue-moon peonies bobbed up and down on long black vines that crawled up and draped over the doors set into the dark gray stone wall.Wide, open, unblinking sapphsidian eyes were embedded in many of the doors, and the jewels winked and glimmered with light, almost as if they approved of my frantic pace.
I raced past several doors.Some were open, and memories played on the other side like videos on holoscreens.
Useless child ...My mother, Nerezza, sneered from one doorway, while Esmina Reston gloated at me from another one.You’re the weak link, destined to be broken ...
For once, I moved past the hurtful memories without stopping, and I kept running until I came to three doors in the back of the room.The fancy, curlicuedZof House Zimmer marked one as Zane’s door, while a large upside-down sapphsidian eye adorned another door.The Door, as I always thought of it, led into the dark, distant depths of my mindscape where my psionic nexus was located.
I focused on the third door, where the House Caldaren sigil arrow streaked upward through a cluster of stars.I had never tried to open Kyrion’s door before.Just because we were bonded didn’t mean I had the right to rifle through Kyrion’s thoughts, feelings, and memories like they were playing cards in a game.I respected his privacy far too much for that.
But right now, I was more interested in saving his life, so I waved my hand.To my surprise, the sapphsidian arrow glimmered brightly, as did the carvings of the surrounding stars, and the door cracked open.I hesitated, then waved my hand again.The door swung all the way open, like Kyrion himself was inviting me inside.I swallowed a hard knot of worry in my throat, drew in another breath, and charged through to the other side.
A few weeks ago, when I had stepped through Zane’s door, it had been like crossing a threshold and moving from one room to another.Simple, quick, and easy.
Maybe it was due to the psionic dampeners still muting our connection, but stepping through Kyrion’s door was like falling into a distant dream.Strange, slow, and awkward.
