Page 46 of Destinies of Diamond
Knox would never be able to follow me inside. Depending on their level of corporeality, the chimeras might, but if they didn’t realize where I’d gone, they wouldn’t know how to give chase.
Every single part of my being protested against the concept of abandoning my lovers, of running away. But at this point, I was a liability. My presence would just distract them and make things worse.
Maybe that was what I had been doing ever since I’d arrived at Chimera Academy—constantly making things worse.
I bit the inside of my cheek so hard it bled. Despite my best attempts, I hadn’t made that much of a difference, but I had affected the members of my unit. Because of me, they’d gone to the Apsid Quasar to save me. And they’d badly pushed themselves and gone against their own biology in their desperation to make sure I was safe.
In a way, it was their responsibility, because they’d made their own bed when they’d chosen to attack Gaia’s Haven. But that didn’t remove my part of the blame, nor did it make my knowledge of the imminent disaster any less painful.
Taking a deep breath, I clutched Knox’s arm as tightly as I could. “Knox, please. Don’t die. And save the others. I need you.”
Knox nodded and shot me a quick smile. “Don’t worry about us. We’ve survived worse. Now, go.”
There were so many more things I’d have liked to say, but our time had run out. I needed to prioritize my baby, not my foolish emotions.
Cracking the vent open, I crawled inside and started to move. Behind me, Knox sealed the passageway shut. As darkness fell over me, I heard a loud roar, another explosion—and then, there was nothing but terrifying silence.
I tried not to think about that silence and focused on going further. I’d never used this method to move around, but I knew where I was and I still had my skills from Sphinx. I could always fall onto that as a guide if things got even worse than they were.
My tentative plan worked and as I sent my mind forward, I managed to identify the right turns I was supposed to take to reach the hangars. The problem was that I still couldn’t connect with Sphinx and it was worrying me more and more.
Had something gone wrong during my so-called assignment from Commander Trevor? No, that couldn’t be it. I’d heard her earlier, a little before the Centaurs had shown up. At one point, her presence had vanished from my mind, but I hadn’t sensed the moment when that had happened.
That alone was very disturbing, since the first time our connection had been shut down—when I’d done it out of grief—it had been very painful and had done a lot of damage to both of us. She couldn’t have gone dormant without me knowing about it. So what in Gaia’s name was going on?
Knox had told me to head for the main hangars and evacuate using the Venom. But could I really leave without trying to find my chimera?
In the end, I didn’t have much choice. There were too many people in the Grand Chimera hangars for me to dare to go there. I could’ve tried to go to them for help, but somehow, I knew that wouldn’t work.
The Lower Chimera Unit was out of the question for obvious reasons, so I had no choice but to follow Knox’s suggestion. And it frustrated me beyond belief that I was this helpless, but I couldn’t allow that anguish to keep me from taking the rational course of action.
I should have known better than to think things would go well. As soon as I got to the main hangars and emerged from the vents, I realized I’d heavily miscalculated.
No sooner had my feet hit the tarmac than a familiar presence appeared behind me. “Where do you think you’re going, young Selene?”
I looked up, only to find myself facing Sphinx. Her presence should have filled me with relief, but it didn’t. Because the light in those tachyon-fueled eyes held none of the affection I’d grown accustomed to. It was cold and savage, and all of a sudden, I knew that I was standing in front of a foe, not a friend. Gaia help me.
Inevitability
Jared
Earlier
“Are you sure about this, Zephyrus? I don’t know about you, but I don’t really think the other Harpies will be that happy to see me.”
“Why? Because you’re an apsid?” Zephyrus snorted, although it sounded more like an irritated squawk. “That doesn’t matter.”
“Doesn’t it? So many of you died in the war.”
“And that’s not your responsibility. You weren’t even an apsid at the time. Or born, for that matter. And even if you had been, it was our choices that got us in this mess in the first place.”
I sighed and leaned against the seat, trying to not feel suffocated by the belt around me. As far as I could tell, Zephyrus was being honest, but I’d deliberately sabotaged our bond throughout my stay at the academy. I could be wrong. Besides, Harpies were known to be vindictive. I couldn’t believe that she’d just let our past go.
“And you’re not angry with me for what I did? For lying?”
“I didn’t say that,” Zephyrus replied. “You were my tamer and you should have been honest with me. But even a Harpy isn’t petty enough to let that kind of resentment get in the way of more important things. You’re not the only one who wants to save their family, you know.”
A wave of guilt swept over me as I understood what she meant. I’d been so busy worrying about myself, my fellow Heliads, and especially Selene that I hadn’t spared a thought to the Lower Chimera Unit. And that had maybe been understandable when I’d been trying to keep myself apart from the Harpies, but now that I’d turned to them for aid, it was a hypocritical stance to have.
