Ouroboros Episode One

  Chapter 9

  Cadet Nida Harper

  She woke with a start.

  She'd been dreaming again. That same damn dream. She'd been back on the planet, her hand covered in writhing blue energy.

  As her eyes shot open, she stared at the ceiling, breathing hard.

  It took her way too long to realize the ceiling wasn't hers.

  Then she heard someone stand sharply by her side, their shoes squeaking on the floor.

  She turned to see Carson Blake.

  She blinked back her surprise.

  "You're in the medical bay," he said clearly and slowly, "you were injured. You're fine now, though," he actually sighed with relief as he noted that.

  "What? What do you mean I'm in the medical bay?" she asked, her tone high with disbelief.

  Then she realized with a quick glance past Carson that she was indeed in the medical bay. She'd been here enough times to recognize it easily.

  "It's okay," he reached her side, then his hand hovered awkwardly above her shoulder as if he wanted to rest it there reassuringly. "There was an accident. Do you remember what happened?"

  She stared at him, trying to push past the remnants of her dream. They still fogged up her memory, making everything else seem indistinct and far off. But slowly it came back. "The training center," she managed. "That block that hit me."

  He nodded, but he pressed his lips together hard, the flesh crumpling and turning white and blue. "Yeah, that happened, but do you remember what happened in your apartment?"

  She stared at him.

  She tried to recall something, anything.

  After a pause, she shook her head. "No."

  His shoulders sagged, and he grabbed his mouth, breathing hard through his fingers. "Okay, one of the doctors should probably tell you this, but they aren't around. You??um??your implant malfunctioned," he managed.

  She couldn't do anything but stare at him. She knew she looked like a complete idiot, but she couldn't help it. "What do you mean?"

  "It malfunctioned," he breathed uneasily, "the doctors have confirmed it. It sent??a training block," he stopped, clearly trying to select his words carefully, "you had an accident with a training block," he shook his head.

  "I don't understand," she answered truthfully.

  "You don't remember what happened in your room? You don't remember the small TI block you keep on your bedside table?" he tried hopefully.

  She went to shake her head. But she stopped.

  A thrill of excitement raced through her, almost immediately followed by dread.

  She remembered sitting on her bed and succeeding for the first time in her life at controlling her TI block. She recalled commanding it to come to her, and the small thing zipping through the air with incredible speed.

  Then, with a terrible chill, she remembered the block slamming into her hand and bashing her against the door.

  She collapsed her fingers over her mouth and whimpered.

  He winced. "It's okay. Everything is fine now. Nobody got hurt. I mean??nobody but you," he corrected awkwardly.

  She kept her fingers pressed hard against her lips, forcing the warm flesh against her teeth. Then she jerked it back as she realized it was her right hand.

  She stared at it in horror.

  "They fixed you up," he assured her. "No permanent damage. And your implant has been recalibrated. It won't malfunction again."

  She clutched her right hand into a fist, closed her eyes, and tried to control herself.

  Carson Blake was standing by her bedside after having saved her from another training accident, and here she was, falling apart like the pathetic cadet everyone thought she was.

  Blinking one eye open to see him still staring at her compassionately, she cleared her throat.

  "Thank you," she managed.

  He laughed. It was a frustrated, disbelieving move, and not one of mirth. "Don't thank me. I should have realized there was something wrong with your implant after that incident in the training center," he admitted, his tone tight with guilt.

  She looked at him, assessing him as carefully as she could.

  He didn't look like he was lying, which meant he somehow genuinely thought this was his fault.

  "Why?" she asked suddenly.

  He considered her, his surprise evident. "I just should have realized. That block in the training center checked out as normal??so I should have at least considered the possibility your implant had malfunctioned."

  "No, you shouldn't have," she told him evenly. "None of the doctors thought my implant could be acting up, and neither did Sharpe," she added quickly, "and Sharpe thinks of everything."

  Carson considered her quietly, then offered a half smile.

  "So you can hardly blame yourself, not unless you want to blame Sharpe too. And let me tell you, he's faultless. Blaming that man will get you nowhere."

  Carson laughed. It was a soft move, and the sound of it echoing through the empty room was a welcome one.

  Briefly, it made her forget what had just happened to her.

  But its effect didn't last.

  All too soon, she brought up her hand to stare at it again.

  But it wasn't her right hand - the one she'd damaged in her room - no, it was her left palm.

  The one that danced with energy in her dreams.

  She frowned at it, considering the marks in her flesh and the whorls on her fingertips.

  "What is it?"

  She let the hand drop and tried to ignore it. "Nothing. I'm sure it's just stress. The doctors keep telling me I'm just stressed," she closed her eyes, "because I'm so far behind on my assignments and so damn unlucky and accident-prone." She laughed bitterly. "And now I suppose I'm going to miss tomorrow's classes and get even further behind."

  "Today's classes," he corrected gently.

  "What?"

  "It's 6 A.M. in the morning," he pointed out, gesturing to a window behind him.

  She stared at it dumbly.

  She could see dawn streaming in through the glass.

  "How long have I been out?" she croaked.

  "10 hours, 45 minutes," he answered, his tone tight.

  "Wh??what?"

  "They had trouble rousing you," his cheeks twitched as he spoke. "Your injuries were more extensive than they first thought," he reasoned.

  "Oh?" she managed after a lengthy pause. "Right??okay," she forced a smile, "so it's tomorrow already, and I get the day off, again," she couldn't hold her smile, "which means Sharpe is going to be on my case for missing too many classes," she groaned.

  "No he won't be," Carson said immediately, "he knows what happened here. I told him myself."

  She blinked as she looked up at Carson Blake.

  With a few rays of light filtering in from the window behind him, he looked almost otherworldly. He stood with such poise and confidence, it seemed he could take on the world.

  Carson Freaking Blake.

  The finest graduate of the Galactic Coalition Academy in years.

  The most popular man around.

  And he was standing in her hospital room, trying his hardest to reassure her everything would be fine.

  What exactly had she done to deserve this? How exactly had she captured the attention of someone like Carson?

  Despite the rumors, Nida was not soppy, and neither did she have particularly low self-esteem. Though she appreciated Carson was popular and realized he was objectively handsome, that was it. She wasn't the kind of girl who would go pink at the prospect he'd smiled at her.

  Instead, it just confused her deeply.

  Girls like Alicia commanded the attention of men like Carson Blake, because they were made for each other. And she hoped they'd be happy together.

  Nida, on the other hand, wouldn't be able to keep up with someone like Carson. He was too flashy, too important, and too well known.

  She liked a quiet life. Or at least she usually did, when she wasn't tripping over and almost dying, that was.

&n
bsp; But still, she had to wonder what the hell he was doing in her hospital room looking so deeply and genuinely concerned.

  "They'll let you go soon," he promised, sighing as he did. "But I'm going to get them to check your implant one last time."

  "Okay," she answered, incapable of thinking of anything else to say.

  Was this the bit where she was meant to throw herself at him and thank him for saving her? Well, of course she was grateful, but she wasn't going to do it.

  Someone like Bridgett might do it, but someone like Bridgett would want the attention of Carson Blake.

  It just made Nida confused.

  With a sigh, she shifted her head back until she stared up at the ceiling. Then she closed her eyes.

  "You're probably tired," he muttered.

  "Hmm," she answered.

  "You should get some rest. I'll have one of the doctors look in on you later," he promised.

  "Ah ha," she managed.

  "You'll be okay," he said one last time.

  It was as if he couldn't think of anything else to say. He'd repeated that exact same phrase like ten times already.

  Realizing she shouldn't be rude, she muttered a quick thank you, then let her head sink back down into her pillow.

  She felt sleep creep toward her again, drawing a sheet of perfect black over her mind as it did.

  And there, within the black, she saw a glint.

  A blue flash.

  Light, like water lapping and trickling over stone, washed around her, escaping from her left hand and plunging deep, deep into her chest.

  ?.