Bend In Line

Chapter 8

I tell my mom that I want a quiet evening alone with Lyra. She disappears into the den with a glass of wine and thick book. Lyra has Luca in her thrall. Luca holds her. He plays with her on the floor. He reads to her. He only relinquishes her when I banish him to the adjoining room so I can feed her. In the end, he agrees that we should seek out as many answers to our questions with the full force of the Order as we can before we risk a fracture. Luca does however contest when I try to warn against him spending as he put it "every waking hour" with Lyra. We compromise. He will only see her anytime he wants. We both agree that we need to speed the investigation process along. For everyone's sake.

The days stretch on. No leads pan out. I avoid Ro outside of Order training and duties as best as possible. Luca spends his spare time hiding away in Lyra's nursery. I prepare for my birthday party and Unbinding ritual with a newfound clarity. I am sitting on the nursery floor with various accounts of previous Unbinding ceremonies scattered around me. Luca lay on his back with Lyra propped up on his chest giggling at some silly noises when I feel a burning sensation spread over the Alpha Mark on my right palm. I hiss in pain and drop the paper I was reading. Luca sits up and has Lyra in his lap in one swift motion.

"What the-" I am interrupted by a wave of heat so intense I scream. My mom rushes in the room before I can utter another word. She takes one look at me and turns to Luca taking Lyra from him.

"Take her to Command." Luca wordlessly helps me up and leads me out of the house. We make it about halfway across campus when I double over. My palm is practically sizzling. It feels as if it's draining me with each scorching flare.

"Ari?" Luca's eyes meet mine in concern. That's when I realize he can see it too.

"We need to move fast." We begin sprinting across the campus toward the training center. By the time we enter the Command Center breathless, Luca is bracing me against his side. Braddock, the other members of the Order, and several Guard unit leaders stand in a loose circle. All eyes fasten on me as I let out a howl of pain and clutch my hand to my chest.

"Ari, what happened? We were about to call you." Rowan comes to my side at once giving Luca a sideways glance.

"Well someone is doing a hell of a lot more than calling me." I say with gritted teeth holding out my burning palm for all to see. The Mark blazes in retaliation.

"You're being summoned." Braddock says looking at me in surprise. "With blood magic."

"Someone can do that?" I squeak out.

"Yes, but at great cost." Braddock answers looking even more troubled.

"What the hell do they want?" Luca demands.

"We just got alerted to a large power surge about twenty miles east of the Capital center in the Plains. Emree went to the training center and brought the others immediately. We were about to call you two in, but I guess we now know what the power surge is." Braddock looks at the blazing Mark of Alpha with furrowed brows. "We were going to discuss the best way to investigate, but I guess we have no choice now. The only way to make it stop is to answer the call."

"So, we drop the Order into an unknown situation? That's ludacris." I hadn't even realized Ivar the irritating was even here.

"Either Ari answers the Call or it tears her apart." Braddock replies turning angrily on Ivar.

"Then let's go. What are we waiting for?" Luca says moving to grab a merash blade from a rack on the wall. The other members of the Order either already have one or more strapped to them or head to get one as well. Luca takes a second and brings it to me.