Guardian (7 page)

Ah, yes—as a full angel, Will’s true home was heaven. Except not anymore. He’d been demoted. One day, she’d need to ask him about that. “Do Halflings split their time between an earthly ancestral home and the midplane, except when they’re on a journey?”

He nodded.

“Are there houses in the midplane?”

“Not as you know them. It’s similar to earth, but being there … well, a human would liken it to camping.”

“Only without the bugs?”

He faced her. “Shall we get back to your lesson, or are you going to badger me with inquiries all day?”

“No, you’re off the hook. Let’s get to this ever-so-important lesson. What is it, exactly?”

Will cupped his hands as if cradling a beach ball. His brow tilted into a frown, creasing his smooth forehead, and his eyes closed tightly. Pure energy seemed to cluster about him like metal shavings to a magnet, and Nikki stepped back until she bumped against a pole. Will’s hands tightened slowly until a silvery ball took shape between his cupped fingers. It became more concentrated as he tightened his grip. When he stopped, a round, silvery globe with tiny blue lights trailing inside it rested on his upturned hand.

Her mouth hung open and was quickly dried by the sea air. “What is that?” Intrigue forced her closer. A ball. A silvery ball appeared out of absolutely nothing.

“It’s faith.”

As soon as he said it, Nikki knew she was in trouble. She had faith in what was tangible. And this was not only intangible, it was untouchable. When she reached for it, her hand passed right through.

If this was the great lesson she needed to learn, she was certainly going to be a huge disappointment. Again.

“Nikki, come on over,” Winter hollered across the deck. “Sky is briefing us on what they know about Omega Corporation.” Thank you, Winter! Raven wanted to say. He’d wanted to call Nikki over to the group for the last several minutes, but knew she’d reject the offer if it came from him.

She’d avoided the pack of Halflings sitting in a circle near the center of the boat, choosing instead to scrub a clean railing and oil a glistening teakwood deck. Will’s lesson had left her intrigued, amazed, and determined—and all of those things left Raven unable to concentrate on the conversation. It didn’t help that sweat clung to the edges of Nikki’s hairline, making his fingers itch to touch the moist strands and brush them from her face.

Every now and then those light brown eyes of hers would meander to the small globe of faith Will had left floating above the railing at the front of the ship. Her eyes would narrow and that methodical mind of hers he loved would go to work.

She crossed the deck at Winter’s words, and Raven caught a blast of Nikki’s scent—life and promise. He breathed her essence, filling his lungs again and again. Man, she looked good with her long hair loose and scattered by the breeze, skin glowing in response to the sun, and her face alive. Really alive. Like the day she took him to Arkansas on the back of her motorcycle. Nikki was freedom. Freedom needed to be protected. Nurtured, even. And he was up to the task. One thing he wouldn’t do was let Mace put her in a cage. Because Nikki—brave as she was, the girl who watched as four hell hounds attacked her—was also scared to death when it came to heart stuff. He’d be careful, something that didn’t come to him naturally. But he would win—something that did come to him naturally.

“Have a seat, Freedom,” he said, sliding a couple inches toward Glimmer. The circle of Halflings looked over at him, but several bodies scooted to make room for Nikki.

“Freedom?” Nikki echoed, wrinkling her nose. “Yeah. New nickname for you.”

She shot him a biting look and sat on the other side of Glimmer, forcing the whole group to shift again.

But just before she blinked away her frustration, Raven saw a moment of approval splash across her face.

Unintended, no doubt. But still. Her scent shifted his direction when the wind changed. He tried not to look obvious as he took it in. Like life, like everything he should be entitled to.

Like everything he would one day have. He’d give her time.

But it wouldn’t hurt to hurry things along every now and then. “Ocean and the crew sunk two boats loaded with titanium.

What we didn’t know is Ocean thinks they are connected to Omega Corporation,” Mace said. He’d acted nonchalant during the exchange between Raven and Nikki, but a note of irritation threaded his words. Good.

Nikki’s brow furrowed. “So, Omega is studying electromagnetic pulses, they are possibly doing genetic testing, and now this? Oh yeah, and my name was on one of their computers.” Vegan crossed her legs and stretched back until her weight rested on her palms. “Not possibly doing genetic testing, Nikki. They’re bringing a whole new batch of genetic scientists. And don’t forget, we’ve seen the horses at the laboratory in Arkansas. No normal horses look like that. So, we have proof of what they’ve done. Just no information on what they plan. Or how, and if, you’re involved.”

“Dr. Richmond might know,” Nikki said.

Raven tried to drag his attention from Nikki to the task at hand. Difficult, but not impossible. “I don’t know if he can give us answers on the computer records, but when I went to Richmond’s house, he was working on a DNA splicing project.” Vegan nodded. “And we know he worked with the horses when he was a scientist for Omega, but that was years ago.” 

“And he still visits them.” Several eyes cut a trail to Raven.

“He didn’t admit that, I figured it out.”

Winter’s gaze remained on him, as did most of the others’ sitting in the circle. He felt the sear of their stares, all the questions, and only he had the answers. Was it cruel to make them wait? Probably, but who cared?

Finally, he shrugged. “His shoes, the manure … Trust me, you don’t want any more of an explanation.”

“What else did you learn at Richmond’s house?” Winter asked.

“His daughter is hot.”

The girls rolled their eyes.

Oh yeah, girls were always jealous. “Seriously, I mean, this girl is amazing. He’s got a picture of her on a beach somewhere, and you know, I could almost smell her coconut suntan lotion.” Vine dropped his voice and leaned in. “Has anyone else noticed the smell of coconut lotion when Will comes around, or is it just me?”

Glimmer tilted her head to the side. “I thought maybe Will had some new beachy cologne or something.”

Raven scoffed. “Beaches smell like dead fish. I don’t think they make cologne in that scent.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and split him in two with her dagger eyes. “And I thought your favorite scent was manure.”

“This isn’t helping,” Vegan said.

Vine nodded in agreement and took a bite of red licorice. Raven continued. “The horses could be just the beginning. Omega could be gene splicing any number of creatures. Humans, Halflings.”

“That would account for the wingcuffs. There was enough titanium to make thousands.” Sky leaned his weight against a post and locked his hand around his bent knee. 

“So, should we assume Omega is trying to splice human and Halfling DNA? And if so, for what purpose?”

“An army,” Zero said as he approached the group. He stood there, hovering above them, silver-white hair quivering in the wind. Raven liked Zero; he was one smart-mouthed guy. But honestly, the dude freaked him out a little with those milkywhite eyes and corpse-pale skin. Too many PopTarts, too many juice boxes, and not enough sunlight did not do a body good. Winter motioned with an upturned hand for him to continue.

Vegan donned a huge smile and scooted over, crowding Mace and making a place for Zero to sit.

Zero sneered down at the spot and remained standing. “I found some formulas in one of the Omega files. There weren’t any specific explanations, but I think they had to do with Halfling-human splicing.”

“No.” Now Will approached the group. He did indeed smell of coconuts.

Zero gave him a dirty look.

Will also stood at the edge of the circle, feet shoulder width apart, arms akimbo. “Halflings are Halflings and humans are humans. I don’t believe the two could be combined by gene splicing. It simply isn’t possible. The best that could be expected would be to mask the angelic qualities, and that would only work for a short time. The angelic strength would eclipse the human and ultimately destroy it.”

Vine shook his head. “But the original Halflings came from an angel-human union. So you must be wrong, Will.” Will stared at him. “A union. Breeding, not splicing.” 

“Okay, so we can rule out human-Halfling DNA splicing. I guess we don’t have to worry about an army from that source,” Vine muttered.

“Then no army at all, because, as we all know, Halflings are capable of having only a single offspring,” Winter interjected. Will raised a finger. “Not all Halflings. There have been anomalies in the past. Very few, but some.”

Zero inched a little closer. “Will, what if a specimen were mostly Halfling, but the human DNA just filled in a few missing pieces?”

Will shook his head, a frown almost wrinkling his forehead.

“I just don’t see how human anything could be introduced and not be eclipsed.”

“Would it matter if the DNA was eclipsed?” Mace asked.

“Angels have the ability to recuperate rapidly.”

“Cell recovery?” Will said.

“Why not?” Mace said. “It would work with the horses too.” Several gasps created their own little vacuum. Winter leaned forward. “Mace, you aren’t suggesting the horses could have spirit horse DNA.”

But Raven knew that’s exactly what Mace was saying. It was written all over his face, even when he shrugged. “Just a thought.” Glimmer looked at Raven. “Why do you think Richmond’s basement laboratory experiments have anything to do with Omega?”

“I don’t know. But they do.”

Glimmer’s curls shifted in the wind, catching light. She’s pretty if you can get past the razor tongue and steely eyes. “You’re going to have to spend more time with him,” she said, but he sensed a quick moment of recognition in her eyes, where she’d obviously read his mind about the whole thinking-she’s-pretty thing.

Great.

Glimmer tipped one shoulder and blinked heavy lashes at him. “You seem easy to talk to—maybe Richmond will confide in you.”

As if that hadn’t been his plan all along. “Yeah, well, I’m on a boat in the middle of the ocean right now, so that’s going to be difficult.” Raven shot a dark look at Will.

“You’re where you need to be, Raven.”

“Whatever,” he mumbled. One thing was certain. As soon as Will backed off this whole let’s go on a cruise thing, he was headed back to Missouri, back to Dr. Richmond, and back to the fight.

Zero was mumbling and hunched over his laptop as Nikki approached. Her movements were slow, the kind she imagined a person would use when trying to capture a wild kitten. “Stop!” he yelled, and raised a hand.

She froze.

“Stay right there.” He dropped his arm, crouched his head a little closer to the monitor, and went back to click, click, clicking away at the keys.

She waited, listening to the almost melodic sound of his fingertips against the keyboard. It would be soothing if she didn’t know he’d eventually open his mouth and ruin the moment. “What am I doing just standing here, Zero?” she asked when the seconds stretched.

“Obscuring the sun,” he answered without so much as a pause in his typing.

Nikki nodded. “Wow, I’ve really got to go on a diet, eclipsing the entire sun and all …”

His silver gaze lifted up for a moment. “You do look a little thick.”

Nikki shifted her upper body, and the sun slammed him in the face. Silver hardware flashed, he growled, and she returned to standing still as his sun blocker.

“Women are evil,” Zero muttered, pressing his palms into his eyes.

“I hear Ocean is going to stop the boat later and everyone is going swimming,” she said cautiously.

He visibly shuddered.

“You know, Zero, I could teach you how to swim. I’m a really strong swimmer.”

He slammed the laptop closed. “What makes you think I can’t swim?”

Those silvery irises bore into her. But she’d thought about this discussion and wouldn’t back down. “I’m not saying you can’t swim, but you don’t seem to like the water. If you’re afraid of …”

“I’m not afraid of the water,” he spat. He pointed over the side of the boat, then to the laptop. “Water and electricity, they don’t really get along. I hate the water, I’m not scared of it.”

“Okay,” she said. “So you know how to swim?”

His hands closed into fists. “I don’t, and I don’t care to learn.” Each word shot toward her like poisoned arrows. She should walk away, but she couldn’t. She liked Zero. At least she did when she wasn’t busy hating him. Nikki stared over the edge of the boat. Endless blue, above and below. “Well, if you change your mind, we’ll be off having fun.”

“Tell you what,” he said as she’d started to walk away.

“Yeah?”

“You teach me how to swim right after I teach you how to f ly.”

Suddenly, she didn’t care if he could swim. In fact, she’d like the opportunity to drown him. “You know, you’re not the only one who isn’t happy about being trapped in the middle of the ocean.”