Shield of Winter

Chapter 51

SHOWERED AND CHANGED, they arrived at Haven two hours after the time they’d told Clara to expect them. Accepting their apologies with a quiet nod, the manager said, “Well, it appears you woke Samuel up at last.”

Ivy caught the glint in the woman’s rich brown eyes. “What did he do? Tell you all you were monkeys attempting to run an asylum?”

Ivy could’ve sworn laughter warmed Clara’s gaze, but the manager’s voice was even as she said, “No, but he rewired the entire complex in the space of eight manic hours. We had a backup team checking his work, but they said he’d done things they didn’t even know were possible, and we’re running at fifty percent increased efficiency when it comes to our power usage.”

“Is he still insisting he’s brain damaged?” Ivy asked.

A nod. “He may well be right—we can’t know if all the systems in his brain are functioning at full capacity. It’s only as he attempts to use them that that will become clear.” She looked at Ivy and Vasic both. “Please don’t get your hopes up. If he senses it, then fails in helping, it could undo all the progress he’s made.”

“We’ll be careful,” Ivy promised, her fingers locked with Vasic’s.

The first thing Samuel Rain did when they found him in the rose garden was to scowl and say, “Where’s the dog?”

Ivy felt her heart clench. Placing one arm around her shoulders, Vasic hugged her close as he answered the engineer. “He was injured and is resting in the care of friends.”

With Jaya and Abbot at the hospital, Vasic had left a peacefully sleeping Rabbit under the watchful eye of the Arrows at Central Command. Had Rabbit been healthy and happy, the idea of those deadly men and women taking care of a small, curious dog would’ve made Ivy smile, but right now, all she felt was a deep worry.

“Injured?” Samuel narrowed his eyes at Vasic. “Is he healing?”

“Yes. He’ll make a full recovery.”

Ivy knew the statement was as much for her as for Samuel. Holding the truth of it to her heart, she said, “Clara told us you’ve made some improvements to the complex.”

“Yes. Come on.” The engineer rubbed his hands.

They spent the next hour on a tour of the facility’s power system. Samuel Rain didn’t even glance at the gauntlet. Frustration gnawed at Ivy, but she held her silence. She could sense Samuel now, and below the excitement at his accomplishment was a bone-deep fear—as if the hard crust of a lake in winter had been sheared off to reveal the liquid beneath. It made her heart hurt.

The engineer, she realized, was aware enough to understand that he might not like what he found if he pushed himself. But he was far stronger than she’d guessed, because right at the end, while he was closing a maintenance panel, he said, “I need the prototype gauntlet the imbeciles who worked on you used to test the connections.”

Vasic lifted his arm as the other man turned to face them. “This is the prototype.”

Ivy thought Samuel Rain’s head was going to explode. Literally tearing at his hair, he said, “Why didn’t you just walk into a butcher’s shop and have them hack you up?”

“Stop it,” Ivy said, having had enough. “You don’t get to talk to him like that.”

Staring at her through his spectacles, the engineer said, “Are you doing something to me?”

“No.”

Suspicion writ large on his features. “I wasn’t like this before.”

Ivy had the feeling Samuel Rain had always been high-strung and outside Silence, his genius intellect such that he’d been given a pass from the authorities—until one of the Councilors had apparently decided to make an example of him. Right after Rain turned down a job offer from the Councilor in question.

Aden had unearthed that fact yesterday. It was simply more evidence of the ugly hypocrisy and self-interest hidden in Silence, Ivy thought as she folded her arms and said, “I don’t care if you dance naked at midnight, as long as you help Vasic.”

A roll of his eyes. “It’s cold at midnight,” Rain said with exaggerated patience. “If I planned to dance naked in winter, I’d do it at noon.”

Then he left, telling them not to follow.

Growling low in her throat, Ivy lifted her hands and made a squeezing motion. “I want to strangle him.”

Vasic pressed a kiss to the top of her head, the affectionate act making her toes curl. “He’s right, you know,” he said, while she fought not to make a big deal of something that was a big deal. “The implant team should’ve never grafted the only prototype. I’ll have to find the most detailed simulation files we have and send them to him.”

“I don’t care if he’s right.” She scowled. “No one is allowed to treat you that way.” Hauling him down with her hands fisted in his jacket, she kissed him with all the passion in her heart. His hand rose to cup her face, his body hardening against hers.

When their lips parted, she looked around to find he’d teleported them back to the apartment. “We should’ve told Clara we were leaving,” she whispered, far more interested in shaping Vasic’s chest with her hands.

He raised the gauntlet, tapped in a short message. “I’ve sent her a notification.”

Arousal fading, she touched her hand to the carapace, slick and hard. “You’ll miss it, won’t you?” It was a fact she hadn’t considered until now. “It’s truly become a part of you.”

He lifted both hands to her face, stroking her hair behind her ears. “I’ll adapt. No piece of technology is worth losing time with you.” Continuing to hold her face, he said, “You’re sad, Ivy.”

She went to protest, but he shook his head, said, “I’m not an empath, but I know you. You enjoyed the sex—”

“The other races call it making love.” Ivy had heard that on comm shows. “It felt like that, didn’t it?” She curled her fingers against the firm breadth of his chest.

Vasic tasted the words, nodded. “Yes.”

Her smile was luminous. “I loved making love with you. Can we do it again?”

“Ivy.” Brushing his thumbs over her cheeks, he held her gaze. “Don’t try to distract me. You were happy for a while, but there’s sadness inside you.” Tiny flickers in her eyes, her smile fading when she thought he wasn’t watching, he’d noticed it all. “Tell me why.”

“Could you get Rabbit first?” she asked, her expression holding a raw vulnerability that kicked him in the heart. “I don’t want him to wake and find himself in an unfamiliar place.”

Vasic left at once, to return less than half a minute later. Rabbit was still curled up in his basket, fast asleep. Going down into a cross-legged position on the floor, Ivy petted the dog with a gentle touch. “My brave Rabbit,” she murmured, as Vasic came down to sit with his back against the wall, one arm braced on a raised knee.

Ivy took time to speak, and when she did, it was with helpless pain in her voice. “I can’t stop thinking about the gauntlet. I try so hard not to, but it’s always there at the back of my mind.” She dashed her hand across her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Vasic didn’t know how to comfort her. All he could do was draw her close, wrap her in his arms. “Surely,” he said, “you don’t doubt Samuel Rain’s genius. Are you a monkey?”

When she spluttered wetly and slapped at his chest, he felt a staggering sense of achievement. He’d given his mate what she needed, brought her through the sadness. Nuzzling his chin into her hair, he continued to hold her as they sat on the floor beside Rabbit.

“That wasn’t funny,” she said at last.

“You laughed.”

He saw her lips tug up at the corners, only to curve downward not long afterward. “There’ll be another outbreak soon, won’t there?”

Vasic didn’t want to talk about that, wanted to indulge in Ivy, but the world continued to turn beyond the walls of this apartment. “Chances are high.”

“I don’t know what to do, Vasic.” It was a trembling confession. “I was so foolish at the start, so sure instinct would guide me, but . . .” She moved her head in a negative motion against his chest.

“You weren’t foolish.” He couldn’t stand to see his tough, determined Ivy so beaten. “You were ready to try, to take a chance. Without you pushing for placements in infected zones, Jaya and Brigitte wouldn’t know who and what they are, and Sascha wouldn’t have made her breakthrough.”

Ivy’s hand curved over his upper arm. “That doesn’t change the fact that I can’t do anything to help!” Angry frustration. “The medic told me I’d cause an aneurysm if I continued on my current path.”

Vasic thought of the secret he’d kept from her about Isaiah, knew she’d be angry with him for it, but told her anyway. Her eyes darkened as she sat up to face him, one hand lifting to her mouth. “Will he . . .”

“The doctors are hopeful, but there is no definite prognosis as yet.”

“Concetta must be devastated.” Hand dropping to her side and voice raspy with withheld emotion, she said, “Why did you hide it from me?”

He curved his hand around the side of her neck. “I knew it would hurt you.”

Gaze meeting his, she shook her head. “I don’t want that kind of a life. Padded against danger and insulated from reality.”

“I know.” He leaned forward, pressed his forehead against hers. “Just . . . give me a little time. I’ve never had someone who was mine before.”

She softened, hand spreading on his thigh. Enclosing her in his arms once more, he held her close, the scent of her in his nose, his heart beating in time with hers. And he knew he’d fight a thousand outbreaks, vanquish untold nightmares, to have another moment such as this. “Have you attempted to attack the infection on the PsyNet itself?” he asked, the idea a sudden, acute one. “The infected are only a symptom. The cause is the poison in the PsyNet.”

Ivy sat up and shifted sideways so that her back was braced against his raised knee. “We tried that back at the compound on the day of the farewell dinner. We thought we should attempt it while we were all together.” Her skin crawled at the memory. “It threatened to suck us into itself, as if we were insects and it was a huge spider.”

“You were inexperienced then, unsure.”

Ivy tapped a finger on her knee, gave his statement serious thought. “Yes.” Not only had the group been uncertain and untested, they’d been feeling the staggering responsibility of coming up with a solution before more people lost their lives. Not ideal conditions. “I think there’s something I can try during the next outbreak as a test.”

Vasic took her chin in a gentle but firm hold. “I won’t get in your way, but promise me you’ll stop the instant you feel any pressure on your brain.”

Ivy felt her heart break at what she saw in his expression, what he let her see, her lethal Arrow trained to hide all vulnerability. “I promise.”

If she’d thought she’d have more time to consider the idea, that proved to be a false hope. An hour later, all hell broke loose in Midtown Manhattan, the outbreak the largest across the world to this point. Arriving with Vasic, Ivy fought her instincts and didn’t wade into the fray when he began to work to contain the situation. Instead, she took a protected position behind a wall and opened her eyes on the PsyNet.

The area where she was anchored remained quiet, but she could see minds sparking an erratic red not far in the distance, violent against the velvet black of the psychic plane. Shooting to the turbulent section, she took a deep breath and whispered, Shh, be calm, be at peace, to herself and released the empathic energy within her.

It was a translucent ripple, akin to the colors formed inside a soap bubble, so subtle it was near invisible against the black. The ripple traveled over the tormented minds, settling on them in undemanding gentleness . . . yet the violent red sparks continued unabated. Disappointment heavy in her gut, Ivy was about to stop and volunteer to fetch and carry for the medics, when Vasic’s mind touched hers.

Ivy, if you’re doing something and it’s not hurting you, keep doing it. This entire block has gone eerily placid—the infected are standing around looking confused, while the noninfected are so calm they’re falling asleep on the street.

Bracing her hands on her knees as her legs threatened to go out from under her, Ivy nodded though he couldn’t see her. Okay, okay.

She didn’t know how long she stood there, but by the time Vasic appeared in front of her, her back was stiff and her calf muscles knotted. “Well?” she rasped, dots in front of her eyes.

“Drink this first.” He thrust an energy drink in her hand and hunkered down to massage her calf muscles with firm, knowledgeable hands that made her moan in relief.

“Only limited casualties,” he said when he rose to his feet and saw she’d finished off the drink.

Already she felt better, her power outlay nowhere close to burnout.

“It could’ve been a massacre.” Vasic’s expression turned grim. “There was a gun shop within the zone of infection, and several of the infected worked inside, had the weapons.”

Ivy shuddered at the thought. “The infected I calmed?” she asked in cautious hope. “How are they?”

“The majority fell asleep over the past ten minutes.” Wrapping his arms around her, he teleported to the apartment before adding, “Jaya and the medics say signs are they’ll slip into comas like the others.”

Heart falling, Ivy stumbled to sit on the arm of a sofa Vasic had righted. “It might be that the cure for this infection isn’t psychic at all,” she said, uncertain what else an E could do. “Maybe it’s a medical problem.” Even as she spoke, she knew it couldn’t be that simple, not with the Net itself beginning to erode.

“Krychek has a top medical team looking into that possibility.” Disappearing without a word, he returned in seconds, Rabbit in his arms. Once again, it was the off-shift Arrows at Central Command who’d kept an eye on their pet.

Rabbit was asleep but woke soon afterward. Ivy hated seeing him so lethargic, so unlike himself. Stroking and petting him as she murmured loving reassurances, she reminded herself how hurt he’d been when he’d first dragged himself to the orchard. If he could survive that, he’d certainly come back from this.

“He likes the sun,” Vasic said, and taking him carefully from Ivy’s lap, placed their pet on the wide windowsill that was his favorite lookout. He didn’t sit up and stare out the window as per usual, but he did stretch out in the late afternoon sunshine.

“Now you,” Vasic said, and pulled a box of nutrition bars from the kitchen cupboard. “That drink was just a stopgap measure.”

Ivy made a face but sat with him on the sofa and ate. “You know, now that some of us want taste,” she said as he finished a bar with quick efficiency, “there’s a business opportunity in making flavored bars.”

“I’ll tell the Arrow Consortium.”

She hesitated with the bar halfway to her mouth. “Is that a real thing or are you teasing me?”

“It’s a real thing, though it’s not called that officially,” he said to her surprise. “We knew we’d need money if we ever defected or went independent. Not all of us want to continue in this line of work.”

But they would, Ivy thought, heart twisting. As long as the Net needed them, the Arrows would surrender their lives to it. For that sacrifice, the men and women of the squad would be pushed to the margins of society and looked upon with fear. Hand tightening on the bar, she took another bite and made a vow that any member of the squad would always be welcome in her home, would be family.

However, all that had to wait. The first thing she had to do was share her empathic breakthrough with the others. It was as well that she’d discovered the key to soothing the infected when she did—the outbreaks continued unabated across the world in the next week.

Empaths—all Gradients, with a focus on those on the brink of natural emergence—were awakened on a wholesale level during the same period. Not all could accept the truth of their nature so quickly, but those able to open their minds to their new abilities after any existing blocks were removed, were given basic training, and sent out to join the fight. Yet despite the appearance of countless minds sparking with color, color that had slowly begun to infiltrate the formerly cold black fabric of the Net, the infection couldn’t be slowed, much less eradicated.

The infection might have hesitated to approach the concentration of Es at the compound back at the start, but it had grown more aggressive. While empaths remained immune, having even multiple Es in a limited area was no guarantee of safety for those around them. And the simple fact was, no matter if every E in the world was brought to active status, it would never equal the one-to-one ratio from the compound.

An entire section of the Net in Paris had to be evacuated when the infection surrounded it in a liquid black cage. Twenty-four hours later, that section collapsed, rotted through; the resulting shock wave left a thousand dead, many more injured. New York, too, hadn’t escaped injury—Ivy and Vasic had been responding to at least two outbreaks a day, even with the humans and changelings throwing their weight behind the containment effort and with all the active Es in the city working on a rotation.

The infection was winning, millions staring down the barrel of death.