Chương 39: Ch 23b - Activate

A warehouse, she thinks, is a more accurate word for the room Wyndeer calls a hall. It is a cavernous space on the other side of the central corridor. Once, she guesses, it had been used to store a large volume of equipment and supplies, maybe even housing a workspace. Now, some storage remains, stacked at the far end near large sliding hangar doors. The remainder of the space is empty save for a makeshift gym. A section of the floor has been overlain with large mats.

Weights are stacked in a corner, and an arching bar of ladder rungs stretch across the far wall. Hanging down over the mats are two lengths of thick rope suspended from one of the open support beams in the roof. Crathsun stands next to two scratched and dented plastic trunks, one stacked on top of the other, in the centre of the open space. He places a shard on top of the trunks and walks back towards Cara and Wyndeer, yelling down the hall as he strides, "Flavitt, get out!"

The young technician steps tentatively out from behind a column of barrels stacked in a tall rack.

"Out," Crathsun repeats, pointing at the door.

"We're using the hall." Flavitt ducks back behind the barrels, reemerging seconds later with a large box braced in his outstretched arms. He skitters alongside the wall, avoiding looking directly at any of them, and out the door.

"Weird kid," Crathsun mutters as he reaches Wyndeer. Cara tugs the sleeves of her jumper over her hands, balling the excess material in her palms, then crosses her arms. The hall is noticeably colder than the rest of the building. Wyndeer and Crathsun seem unaffected by the temperature, both look comfortable in their black t-shirts.

"Let's get started," Wyndeer says.

"Cara," he gestures at the trunks. She looks at Crathsun, his beard has grown longer but he keeps it neatly trimmed under his jawline. It helps to differentiate between his head and stocky neck. He stands, like Wyndeer, waiting expectantly.

"Is Crathsun-? Is he staying?" she asks Wyndeer tentatively.

"Yes." Wyndeer frowns. Cara shifts nervously.

"But-," she mumbles. Wyndeer scowls and rolls his eyes but turns to Crathsun instead of admonishing her.

"Crathsun, would you like to leave?"

"No," Crathsun replies.

"Good," Wyndeer says, turning back to Cara, "Now, start." He gestures again to the trunks, this time holding his arm straighter, his fingers stiffer. She walks over to the trunks, her back carrying the weight of their stares the entire way. The shard waits for her, affected by neither the temperature of the room nor the mood of its occupants. It gleams welcomingly in the bright, artificial light. She looks back to where they stand.

Crathsun and Wyndeer together, Draig leaning, of course, against the wall near the door. Slowly, she unbundles her right hand and picks up the shard. She waits. Nothing. She looks curiously at it. Smooth glossy surfaces. Yellow and amber flecks running through it. It looks the same. It feels familiar. Nothing. She places it back on the trunk, then picks it up again. Nothing. She frowns at Wyndeer.

"Nothing," she says uncertainly.

"Nothing?" he clarifies.

"Nothing," she repeats. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"No tingling? No buzzing?" he prompts.

"No. Nothing." Wyndeer holds a hand to his mouth as he leans in to talk to Crathsun. Cara frees her other hand to examine the shard further, turning it over, trying to find anything that looks or feels different.

"Try again," Wyndeer orders.

"I'm trying," frustration creeps into her voice.

"I mean. I'm holding it. It usually just happens when I'm holding it."

"Still nothing?" She shrugs. She places the shard down on the trunk, pausing with her hand hovering above it. She feels the familiar desire to pick it up. Her fingers curl around the shard and she lifts it back off the trunk. Nothing. She shrugs at Wyndeer. He shoots her a disapproving look.

"I don't know why it's not working," she says defensively, putting the shard back down. He mutters something to Crathsun, who immediately turns and leaves the hall.

"He's getting another one," Wyndeer says. Crathsun returns, places a second shard on the trunk and resumes his place by Wyndeer's side. Draig, she notices, has stepped away from the wall and moved closer to the two men to get a better view. Cara sighs and looks at the two shards. Outwardly they look the same. She can't be sure but at first glance the flecks inside the shards looked similarly placed. She hovers her hand over the shards.

The desire to pick them up is equal, not collectively stronger, not one stronger than the other. She picks up the new shard. Waits. Nothing. She puts it down, pauses, then picks it up. Nothing. Puts it down and picks it up. Nothing. She puts it down. She glares at it. It gleams back at her. She thinks of all the previous times she has held it. What is different now?

"Cara, what's happening?" Wyndeer calls out. The clomp of his boots echo across the otherwise silent space as he walks towards her.

"Don't," she holds her hand out to him, "please, don't come closer. I don't know what's going on. I don't want anything bad to happen." He stops but doesn't retreat. The pressure of their staring, their unspoken questions, fuels her frustration. Is it their presence that stops the shard? But, she thinks, there has always been someone watching her when she has held it before. Does the shard react to her fear of them? She picks it up.

Drawing in a breath she braces herself, scared of her next attempt, of what might happen. Holding the shard she looks up at them one by one; Wyndeer, Crathsun, Draig. The shard fizzes with a faint glow. A light buzz sends a tingling feeling into her hand. She quickly drops the shard. Draig uncrosses his arms.

"Something?" Wyndeer prompts.

"Maybe," she mumbles, staring down at the shard. It wants her fear? Adrenaline starts to build in her body.

"Cara," Wyndeer says in a warning tone.

"Maybe-. I'm not sure." With a shaking hand she picks up the shard again and looks across the room at the men. Nothing. She puts it down. Joints pop and crack as she rolls her shoulders back and shakes out her arms, trying to release some tension. Picking up the shard she repeats her glance at them; Windeer, Crathsun, Draig. Nothing. She tracks her gaze slowly across them; Windeer, Crathsun, Draig. Nothing. The trigger isn't their presence.

She tosses the shard onto the trunk, it rolls and clunks into the other shard. She steps back from the trunks, raising her hands in exasperation, "Nothing."

"I thought you felt something?" Wyndeer asks sternly. His distrustful accusation sits heavy in the air.

"I did, briefly. But it's gone. There's nothing."

"I asked for your co-operation in this," he warns.

"I am," she yells in irritation.

"Cara," he issues her name in a low growl.

"I'm trying!" Thrusting her fingers into her hair she turns her back to him and paces away from the trunks.

"Cara," his low voice carries his instruction clearly across the room, "try again."

"I don't know how they work," she replies over her shoulder.

"That's why you will keep trying. All day if necessary." She spins around to face him.

"I don't know how-" her voice trails off as she sees his tightly clenched jaw and hard stare. Behind Wyndeer, Draig inclines his head and raises an eyebrow at her. Huffing loudly, she returns to the trunks. With a petulant thrust she grabs at the shards, picking up whichever one rolls into her hand. She grips the shard tightly. Nothing.

"Anything?" Wyndeer prompts in his warning tone.

"No," she says, putting the shard down"Try it again."

"This is not working," she protests.

"Again," he orders. She picks up a shard.

"Anything?" Pressing her lips together to bite back a sarcastic reply, she pushes the words back down to her lungs. A buzz and tingle fizz into her hand. She stares at the shard, not daring to move. The buzz and tingle stay in her hand, waiting. She opens her mouth, releasing the held breath. The shard fades into stillness. She draws in a new breath, holding it in her lungs. The shard fizzes into life.

"It can't be," she says as she releases the breath. The fizz in her hand dies away.

"What?" demands Wyndeer. She raises an open palm to him, not wanting to be interrupted, not caring about his reaction. She must be sure. She holds her breath. The shard responds. The energy tingles in her hand. She releases her breath. The energy fades. Looking up at Wyndeer she says, "I know how to turn it on."