Page 19 of Destinies of Diamond
“It is always my duty to do what is best for the Chimera dynasty and its subjects. May Tartarus watch over you.”
Without another word, I turned on my heel and stalked out of the room. Knox followed, and together, we made our way back to the hangars.
Once we were safely ensconced in our chimeras, I dared to tell Knox what I really thought about this whole thing. “This is bad, Knox. Even if we assume the energies around the entrance to the quasar aren’t related to apsids, it can’t be a coincidence that the explosion at Tartarus happened now. Something’s going on and we’re missing it.”
“I don’t know about you, Your Highness, but I think the explanation is right in front of us. There’s really no reason for any of us to trust the man who kidnapped Selene.”
No, there wasn’t. But was Jared really capable of doing such things? And if he was, what else did he have in mind?
A shiver went down my spine. Jared was on Earth now, and so was Selene. The story was repeating itself. Once again, we’d left her exposed to his manipulations. “Typhon, hurry. We have to get to New Washington. And contact Selene’s coms.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the long-distance coms didn’t work and there was no reply from the Sphinx. I forced myself not to panic, knowing it wouldn’t help us now. “This doesn’t mean anything,” I told Knox. “It’s probably the interference messing with her systems.”
“Yes,” Knox answered. “Yes, of course.”
His voice sounded distant, almost like he hadn’t heard me at all. I ignored the part of me that was screaming he needed help. Together, we launched ourselves into space yet again, the systems of our chimeras already guiding us toward Selene.
Knox would keep fighting and so would I. We wouldn’t fall apart, not yet, not while Selene still needed us.
****
Selene
It was evening when I arrived in New Washington. The city was alive with activity and the light of Gaia glowed over every street. There was no sign of any damage nearby, but I knew that was deceptive. Terra was a huge place. The strange phenomenon that had hit Tartarus Base could have left New Washington untouched, but affected any other area of the planet.
My mother met me outside the Temple of Gaia. There were other priestesses around, but by now, everyone was used to my visits. No one showed any alarm upon seeing Sphinx land.
As was her habit, my mother hugged me as soon as I approached. “Selene, dear, I didn’t expect you back so soon. I heard from General Rhodes that you’d be having exams at Chimera Academy and you wouldn’t be able to come to Terra for a while. I was actually going to return to Tartarus Base the day after tomorrow.”
“I’m not sure that will be possible,” I said as I hugged her back. “There’s been an alarming incident at the base. Something affected the power generators. Have there been any attacks or anomalies here?”
My mother released me from her embrace and blinked at me in surprise. “Not that I know of. Come inside. I’ll check all the reports I’ve received recently and speak to other High Priestesses. They might know more.”
She ushered me into the building and set out to contact all her friends from other cities and continents. I waited in the control room, feeling useless and frustrated.
It relieved me to see that there had been no attack here, of course, but at the same time, it made me anxious. Something was afoot, and the uncertainty was even worse than an all-out threat.
But I wasn’t the one calling the shots here, so when my mother finished reviewing her reports, I thanked her profusely for her assistance.
“I suppose no news is good news in this case, right?”
My mother shot me a concerned look, not in the least bit fooled by my attempt to appear nonchalant. “You don’t really think that, do you?”
“It’s hard to say,” I answered with a sigh. “I wish I did, but I still have a bad feeling. Who knows? Maybe I’m just jumping at shadows. I haven’t had the easiest time lately, so I’m not the best person to assess the situation here.”
“The generators at Tartarus Base collapsed, Selene. That kind of incident warrants caution, even if you weren’t prone to panic or hadn’t seen just how badly things can escalate. It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you.”
Her words were almost identical to what Brendan had told me a little while back, when we’d spoken about Commander Trevor. The memory made my heart clench. I still had no idea what to do about our relationship, and at this rate, I wasn’t going to find out anytime soon.
But I didn’t have the luxury of focusing on my love life now. We needed to find out the root of the problem at Tartarus Base. Then and only then could I return to untangling the threads of my confusing future.
In the meantime, since I’d already dropped by, I took advantage of the occasion to ask my mother to check on my pregnancy. I didn’t tell her what had happened in the showers, because I still felt too embarrassed. But the baby wasn’t something I could ignore either. A child wouldn’t wait until I found it convenient to check up on him or her.
My mother guided me to lie down on a cot in her quarters. As she swept her hands over me, Gaia’s Gift drifted into my body. It was so familiar, and yet, it made me squirm with discomfort. It didn’t seem invasive, but it didn’t quite fit with my abilities. I felt like I was too big for my skin, like a pot that was about to bubble over because there was too much liquid inside me.
As much as I appreciated my mother’s assistance, I was glad when she pulled away. “As far as I can tell, everything is in order, but your energies are a little unbalanced. The pregnancy is definitely messing with your hormone levels. You’ll have to be careful with your use of your powers.”
That wasn’t news to me, since Commander Trevor and the others had told me the same thing. “I’ll do my best. Is there any medicine I can take that’ll help?”
