Page 29 of Tears of Tungsten
Just the fact that she was ushering me away at a time like this spoke volumes of what my fellow Chimera Warriors must be feeling right now. Whatever had happened in the real world while I’d been lost in my own head, it must’ve been bad.
I disengaged the connection between me and Scylla and opened the cockpit. The moment I emerged from my chimera, I caught sight of the others. It was not an encouraging view.
August was on his knees, breathing hard, his sweaty hair curling around his temples. Wild tachyon waves crackled at his fingertips, and he was obviously having trouble controlling the energy emissions. Knox was with him, and seemed to be talking him through the episode.
Meanwhile, Selene and Brendan were a little closer to me. The ground around them had cracked, as if a great force had attacked it from within. Selene met my eyes, swayed, and slumped against Brendan, obviously exhausted.
I ached for both of them, but I rushed to Selene’s side, simply because she was closer. “What’s going on?” I asked Brendan. “Is she going to be okay?”
Brendan grimaced. “She overused a skill she wasn’t accustomed to while trying to bring Scylla back under control. August is the same. We need to get them back to the dorms and make sure they’re safe.”
My heart fell as I listened to his explanation. “Fuck, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
Now that I was with them, it was so easy to see that Stella had only been a memory, a projection of my own guilt and fears. How could I have let my feelings get the better of me to such an extent?
“No, it’s not, Pollux.” Brendan stared past my shoulder, at Scylla. “If you were going to have a breakdown about your sister, it would have happened a long time ago, not now. This is something different, and I’m going to find out what.”
Without another word, he picked Selene up in his arms. Together, we walked up to Knox and August, who were now standing as well. Granted, Knox had to support August on his shoulder, but at least August was cognizant and didn’t seem in any pain.
“Well, this was eventful,” he croaked out. “That’s one way of making sure I can still use my tachyon manipulation when I need it.”
I hadn’t even been aware that he had doubts about his skill. Maybe he’d felt it had been affected after the tournament. In hindsight, it made sense, since having a bad experience with extreme heat wasn’t all that encouraging for a potential mastery of tachyon usage.
How had I missed something so obvious? It had been right in front of me, but I’d thought August’s behavior had been caused by losing Charybdis.
What a clusterfuck.
And now, I’d just had a strange vision about my dead sister. Brendan was right. This whole thing had been planned. Chimera tamers were supposed to keep a cool head at all times, and what had just happened practically disqualified me as a pilot—as long as anyone found out about it, at least. But who would have the knowledge and the ability to do something like that to me? Was it related to the problem with our chimera’s abilities and diet? The thought chilled me to the bone.
But dwelling on that fear now wouldn’t help me, and neither would blaming myself for my lapse. Relying on my chimeras to keep our secret, I followed the others back into the academy. Somehow, we’d figure out what had happened. If we had to take drastic steps to make sure this incident didn’t repeat itself, we’d do that too.
“I’m sorry, Stella,”I silently told my dead sister,“but for their sake, I’ll have to become what I hate the most. I hope you’ll forgive me one day.”
There was no reply, but I didn’t expect one. My sister was gone and whoever had tried to make it seem otherwise would pay the price for their deception.
* * *
Selene
After my lesson with my mother, I’d arrived at the academy feeling tired and confused. I wasn’t sure what direction I was headed in when it came to my powers and it left me unbalanced. I hoped speaking to Sphinx would give me some clarity.
My plan didn’t work out well at all. I stopped to speak to August, and during our conversation, everything went awry all over again. Scylla was out of control, attacking Cerberus and Typhon. A strange mist surrounded her, so thick I wouldn’t have been able to see her at all if she hadn’t been flailing around so much. But standing around there watching did absolutely nothing, so August and I rushed in to help.
August insisted on absorbing the excess tachyon particles himself, while instructing me to anchor Scylla after he was done. I had my doubts about this plan, more so since it heavily relied on me having enough skill with Gaia’s Gift to succeed.
Somehow, I managed. As August reached into the air and pulled, Scylla stopped moving around so much and I found the right moment to strike. I didn’t aim for Scylla, though. Instead, I reached for Pollux. He was the one in trouble and the chimera’s behavior was only a consequence of his problem.
That knowledge didn’t prepare me for the strange confrontation I had with Pollux’s sister in that indistinct space. I didn’t know much about her. In truth, I hadn’t been aware he’d even had a sister, and if I hadn’t caught glimpses of Pollux’s thoughts while I’d been trying to find him, I might have believed she was actually a lover. Either way, they’d obviously been close and she didn’t like me much.
I didn’t think I could have fought her off had she actually tried to attack me. But it didn’t come to that at all. Pollux ended the confrontation by choosing me over her. I’d have been happier about it had the whole episode not made it clearer than ever that we were in a lot of trouble.
When I came to, I was once again on the training field. At one point, Brendan had made his way to my side. “You did very well, princess,” he whispered in my ear. “You saved us. Good job.”
“August?” I croaked out. I felt like I’d been run over by a chimera, but that didn’t worry me right now. “Pollux?”
“They’re fine. You’ll see them in a bit.”
I believed him, but I wasn’t truly reassured until Pollux joined us and we met up with August and Knox. August could stand on his own. I wasn’t so lucky and Brendan had to carry me to the dorm.
