Page 56 of Rising

Strapping Wrath to my back, I grabbed my leather tote containing my notes and transcripts inside, and headed out the door, ready to give them to her in case she needed them. It’d save myself a trip back here for my work day if not.

The hallways to the courtyard were still empty. Most people were still asleep and the ones that were awake weren’t exactly rushing to get to the Public Library right next to my quarters. As the morning fog lifted and the sun crested over the walls of The Compound, the courtyard started to bristle with soldiers preparing for their morning training. Methodically going through their checklists for the day.

None paid me any mind. They were used to seeing me here spar with Jax, or bothering Amaia during the most inconvenient moments, attempting to add some spice into her day. The sister in me enjoyed the annoyance in her voice when she told me to leave her be. I missed those times.

Everything had become complicated. There was a time when I first got here, when I’d found my friends, that I thought I could pretend thiswas normal, and always had been. The way a long lost friend had told me I would.

Jax’s death was just a reminder of how delusional I had been. The attacks in his wake had been a constant reminder to never let myself feel that comfortable with my surroundings or my situation ever again. Everytime I let myself feel safe, people were taken from me.

I didn’t bother knocking. It was technically during the hours she was required to be available to her soldiers. Most had grown accustomed to her not showing face until much later in the day. Nevertheless, if she was awake, the door would be unlocked. And only two people in this place would just stride on in, ignoring the fact that her body alone was a weapon.

Reina’s grave face greeted me as the door opened. She was on the couch with her knees to her chest, biting her nails. Her brown hair was heavy in a loose bun, an oversized hoodie nearly covering the plaid pajama shorts. Red marks from her constant nervous rubbing blemished her pale long legs. Harley and Suckerpunch were laying on the floor beneath her feet asleep, hoping their presence would be enough to soothe her. My heart sank to my ass.

“What happened?” I demanded, not wanting to hear a cookie cutter explanation.

Amaia knew better than to drag it out. “They were ambushed. Logan was bitten. From what Seth told me, they didn’t think he was going to make it.”

Something about her face told me there was more. “But?” I asked.

“He pulled through,butthere were complications. His magic’s changed. Seth wasn’t too clear. I don’t even think he understands. Logan’s still not conscious. Lost a lot of blood, so they can’t ask him any questions.”

A chill went down my spine. “We don’t know that it’s like Michael.”

“We don’t know if it is or isn’t, there’s nothin’ concrete indicating that it’s not. Won’t know till they make it back,” Reina added, quieter than usual from the couch.

I could see the wheels spinning behind her eyes. The worry for her brother but also the endless possibilities of the scientific explanations that had been troubling her since one of Seth’s guys had ridden in with Michael strapped to the back of his horse.

He’d been rushed to the Infirmary where Reina treated his wounds and tended to him in the aftermath. It’d been days before he’d realized he now possessed an additional element. In the midst of a PTSD induced nightmare, his roommate had woken him up, their apartment flooded with water, the energy behind it creating a small current underneath his bed.

Luckily, Reina had thought to do a biopsy around the skin of his bite, “Never leave a stone unturned,” she’d said.

Her and a few other Scholars that specialized in biology and anatomy had been focused on it the last two days, nothing concrete had formulated. Nothing we hadn’t seen before.

In the first few days I’d arrived years ago, Reina had been chatting my ear off. Filling the gaps of what I deemed pleasant silence with all the things she’d learned or discovered since her and her brother had arrived. She’d spent most of her time tending to soldiers injured in conflict. Sometimes using her time to help soldiers amongst other citizens with recent trauma rehabilitate into new roles and learn how to function with missing limbs. Even going as far as helping them process things with her magic.

But on the side, she’d been working with a team across the Salem Territory and in conjunction with other scientists in parts of Transient Nation. Even found a way to cooperate with the friendlier allies of The Expanse, trying to understand the root of the changes within the human race.

Biological warfare, they’d determined. Something released into the atmosphere in the wake of the bombs had changed human DNA. They’d been able to identify each gene,Ignis, Supra, Umbra Mortisand so on. But science had yet to be able to definitively conclude why an individual developed a specific gene mutation.

“It’s like with the children,” Reina continued, voice shaky. “It’s a waiting game, and even though his power has awoken, he hasn’t. We can’t be sure until we test him, if they can make it back.”

The current hypothesis was that from now on, magic would be determined through passed down genes, recessive versus dominant. The parents’ genes duking it out. All the children here had been tested. Their DNA logged in our records for reference in the future. None of their powers had been awoken yet. It lay dormant beneath their skin and only time would tell when it would come to the surface. If it did at all. For all we knew, the genes may need an agitator to present themselves. We could see what we believed to beAerorTerrain their DNA, but without confirming in practice, we couldn’t rely on just a working theory.

It was plausible the same thing was occurring with the bites. Until recently, the survivors of attacks were mauled at worst, or if you were bitten, it was a failed attempt to be eaten. Similar to the bites during the last attack at The Compound. The intent behind Riley’s wounds were clear: a meal. But Michaels wounds resembled a carefully actioned bite, a singular bite, not the usual nibbled skin exhibited in the past. And if that were true, we were looking at far worse issues than we were prepared for, and the possibility of Amaia being correct in her long-standing theory.

I was brought back to the wordif. “If … they make it back?”

Reina nodded. “They can’t calm his flames, only keep ‘em contained with Alexiares and Eddie’s water magic. Guess it caused some attention too. Seth and the rest of ‘em have been fending off staggering Pansies all night.”

“They’re in need of a clear path to the horses, but they need Logan to relax before they can attempt it,” Amaia finished.

“So knock him the hell out.” As far as I was concerned, that was a simple solution, and I wasn’t sure why nobody else had considered it at this point.

“Well, duh, ya don’t think that was my brother’s first call to action?”

“Or Alexiares,” Amaia muttered under her breath.

That didn’t address why it wasn’t possible.

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