A knock sounds on the door. “Car’s ready,” Justice calls out, his footsteps quickly receding.
“I have to go.” Thorn rolls over and gracefully stands. “Get some sleep. We’ll talk later.”
My body chills as I watch his graceful movements toward the door. “When am I going home, Thorn?”
He doesn’t look back. “You are home.” With that, he opens the door and prowls into the hall.
I rear up. “Wait a minute.” My heart thunders. He’s pulling me into his world way too fast, and I can’t think clearly being in his space. “You can’t keep me here!” I yell.
“Watch me.” Then he’s gone.
FOURTEEN
Thorn
My lab is nearly three thousand meters underground. There’s no question the garnet crystals placed in the rock and metal help sustain this facility, much as I do. Whenever I’m underground, my ears pop. It’s quite annoying.
At the moment, only Justice, Kazstone, and I stand in the digital jungle. In fact, the three of us are the only ones with clearance to be down this far. Anybody with a different biometric marker will set off multiple ear-shattering alarms.
Kazstone is seated at his customary desk in the center, more than a little annoyed that he had to call me in earlier than usual. I’ve learned one thing about him during our time together, and that is he likes his routine.
“Hey, Kazi.” Justice smiles.
I’ll never understand why, but Justice loves throwing Kaz off his game. I don’t mind Kazstone knowing who’s in charge, but I’ve also found that it’s a good idea not to piss off the smartest person on the planet. Plus, right now, the baiting is fucking annoying. A waste of time. I shoot Justice a look that makes him lose the grin.
He keeps trying to get closer to me, and I keep shoving him back. For some reason, the kidnapping of Alana, my Alana, has brought us closer. He would’ve never questioned me about killing the guard even a week ago. What is it about that woman?
Kaz types on two different keyboards at once, somehow using the full range of his hands on both. He’s thirty years old with dark blond hair, strikingly intelligent green eyes, and a strong chin. I noticed his chin the first time we met, when we were just teens. It juts out and has a dimple in the middle, like Cary Grant’s.
“Did you find more of the alexandrite?” I ask.
He nods. “Yes. I just made a deal with the Kayrs family out of Idaho for two large stones.”
“Really?” I say. That gives us six—far more than anybody else on the planet. At least for crystals that size. As far as I have known, the Kayrs family refuses to give up jack squat.
“Yes. They’re also sending over a trove of red garnets but they don’t have one big enough to be close to what we need.”
The Kayrs family has been around as long as my own, but they aren’t involved in the influence gathering or power acclimating of the four families. I keep them at a respectful distance and know that they’ll be neutral in any war. They have their own agenda and keep it locked up tight. This is a very rare moment of overlap. “What do they want?”
“A favor in the future.”
Shit. I don’t like that, but I’ll take it. “Fine.” Sometimes I wonder if I should get out of the power game, but it’s not to be.
My enemies would have me killed, and plus, I need to make a safe haven for Justice and possibly Alana. I don’t want to let her go. Knowing she’s protected at my fortress is giving me more peace than I’ve had in years. Unfortunately, right now, my feet are freezing from the virus, and I’m sure it won’t be long before the ice encases my heart.
Kazstone looks me over. “I can tell, you’re colder.”
“I am.”
Kazstone opens one of the many drawers of his desk and pulls out a bowling ball-large hunk of raw red garnet—my main garnet.
“Is that ice?” I ask, moving toward it.
“It is,” he says grimly.
I touch the crystal and my blood hums. It is freezing from the inside out, just like me.
“You took it out of the mainframe?” Justice growls.
“I did last week,” I say. The thing is freezing at the same rate as me. Even my fingers are pricking with cold. I’m not happy that somebody is successfully killing me, but still, the ingenuity of the person is impressive. I’ll kill whoever it is once I find them, but I do appreciate a good curse.
“Can you explain this to me?” Justice rubs his right eyebrow like a headache is trying to kill him.
“Sure,” Kazstone says. “As far as I can tell, a private user introduced a computer virus into our system—through a social media post. I’ve tracked down several possible entry points, and honestly, it is eluding me so far. Once the bug invaded our system, it lurked in the garnets, especially the main one.” He nods to the now-icing-over stone. “The second you connected to charge it, the virus was transferred to you.”
I charge the garnets by an exchange of energy, the same as the owners of the other three social media companies do with their crystals. The transfer occurs by touch and meditation. It’s quite simple, really. I gain strength and longevity afterward. Usually. Now, not so much.
Justice shakes his head. “Magic and computer science.”
“And quantum physics,” Kazstone says cheerfully. “I’ve deciphered part of the algorithm that created the digital curse. If I can unravel the entire thing, maybe we can find a cure.”
This era of the internet, revitalized energy, social media companies, and the sheer volume of subscribers flinging more energy at us is a new world for everyone. None of us saw the danger coming.
“Who has the ability to create a computer or crystal virus like this?” I ask.
Kazstone glances at his monitor. “I have it. You have it. I would assume each social media family has somebody who could create it. There’s no digital footprint yet. I don’t know who it is.” Frustration darkens his face.
His loyalty is absolute, and I hope he’s as good as I believe. “Before I charge the servers, what have you discovered with the four new alexandrite pyramids?” I won’t receive the ones from the Kayrs family for at least another day.
