Page 29 of Souls of Steel
“What does that mean, Sphinx?”
She didn’t reply, her presence disappearing from the back of my mind. I’d have been annoyed, but once she was gone, I noticed my headache had returned with a vengeance.
Right. I wasn’t supposed to abuse long-distance communication with my chimera. That was very easy to forget.
Fortunately, I wouldn’t have to wait for much longer to see Sphinx again and have a real conversation with her. The hangars were up ahead. Here, I’d be able to get some peace and quiet, just like I had before the school year had started. And maybe I could get some training in that wouldn’t go awfully wrong.
The chimeras were all waiting in a circle, although ‘waiting’ was a poor word to describe their current activity. Sphinx was engaged in a game of chess with Typhon, while Cerberus was cheering them on. Scylla and Charybdis watched the whole process with interest. I’d only caught glimpses of the latter two chimeras before, but now that I could see them, I had to admit they were as terrifyingly beautiful as my Sphinx.
Charybdis’s form looked like a gigantic serpent and her most preeminent feature was her gigantic mouth. Her scales glittered in a mix of black and crimson and a small protuberance on her back signaled the spot where the cockpit was supposed to be.
Scylla was a little bit like Typhon, in that her upper body was humanoid. Her lower half was a mass of tentacles and wolf heads. On occasion, the heads would snap at Cerberus, although it looked teasing and companionable instead of threatening.
When they saw us come in, the chimeras set their game aside. Sphinx waved her paw and the massive board dissipated in bright speckles of light.
“Good morning, Selene, gentlemen. Time for a short flight?”
“Indeed, Lady Sphinx,” Brendan replied.
“Oh, don’t be so formal. Any friend of Typhon’s is a friend of mine.”
And yet, she’d told me she didn’t trust Brendan or anyone else here. Would I ever be able to fully understand Sphinx?
I would ask, but maybe not just yet. Maybe for a little while, I could focus on the simple joy of flying.
When she extended her paw toward me, I happily climbed on top of it. The cockpit opened and I slid inside. The belts tightened around my body and the neural link activated once again.
Outside, August and Pollux got in their chimeras. “We’ll start with a flight test against us,” Pollux said through the coms. “What do you say, Selene? Can you beat us?”
Despite everything that had been going wrong in my life as of late, I couldn’t help a small laugh. “That’s my line. Can you beat me?”
As the hangar bay doors opened, I guided Sphinx into the air. I became one with the chimera and forgot all about the people who thought I was inferior, just because of my gender.
* * *
Brendan
She was amazing. I’d never seen a pilot as talented as Selene Renard since the first time I’d watched August and Pollux come together on the battlefield. Knox had told me she’d neutralized those terrorists in New Washington, but I hadn’t actually realized the true extent of her talent until now.
“She’s better than I was when I started,” Knox admitted. His voice held a dose of admiration that drove a spike of panic and wariness through my heart.
I could see where this was going and I didn’t like it. Knox was a creature of instinct—he always had been—and Selene ticked all his boxes. He might intellectually realize that getting involved with her was a bad idea, but the part of him that belonged to Cerberus wanted her anyway.
It would be my job to keep him from pursuing his impulses and preventing disaster. “That doesn’t change the situation, Knox. We need to stick to the plan and get her out of here, remember?”
“I remember.” Knox grimaced. “I just wish…”
He trailed off and shrugged, uncomfortable with finishing the sentence. He didn’t have to vocalize his thoughts anyway. They weren’t hard to guess, and I agreed with him.
Selene would’ve been a wonderful asset to the team, if she’d been a man. But she wasn’t, so she didn’t belong in Tartarus Base or at Chimera Academy. Sometimes, talent wasn’t enough.
“Sorry,” he said, having noticed my concern. “I’ll get her out of my system soon. It’s just the novelty that is getting to me. It’ll pass.”
I nodded, hoping he was right. We continued to watch Selene fly her chimera over the training field. August and Pollux were right behind her. Charybdis was catching up fast, her serpentine body deceptively quick despite its size.
I wondered what August’s take on all this was. He and Pollux had both agreed with my plan, just like I’d known they would, but I was sure they had their doubts regardless.
Pollux in particular had been hit hard, the situation reminding him far too much of his lost sister. Tartarus help us, we were trying to serve The Grand Judiciary properly, as was expected of us. Why couldn’t we get a break just once?
