Domination (A C.H.A.O.S. Novel) - By Jon Lewis Page 0,29
Was he using telepathy or something?”
“To tell you the truth, I’m not sure,” Colt said. “I could hear him—well, feel him inside my head. I tried to push him away, but I couldn’t.”
“I didn’t know the Thule used telepathy,” Danielle said.
“Then you need to read more,” Oz said.
“I’ve read just about everything there is about them in the digital library.”
“Try The Phantom Flyer and the Agents of CHAOS #87.”
“That’s right,” Colt said as he sat up a little too quickly. He felt light-headed, and for a moment he thought that he was going to faint, but the sensation passed. “They had a spy network that infiltrated General MacArthur’s staff, and they were leaking information telepathically to Thule scouts who were hiding nearby.”
“Comic books aren’t exactly the most reliable source when it comes to history,” Danielle said.
“Says you,” Oz said. “But it’s true.”
“Did you tell Dr. Roth?” Danielle asked.
Colt shook his head.
“Why not?”
“Probably because I’ve been unconscious,” Colt said. “But I’m not sure if I want to tell him anyway.”
“You can’t keep secrets like that.”
“Why, so they can dissect my brain to see if they can replicate whatever is happening to me? Because that’s where this is heading.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“I don’t know,” Oz said. “He may be on to something.”
Danielle shook her head. “You two are the biggest conspiracy theorists I’ve ever met.”
“Takes one to know one,” Oz said.
“How old are you?” Danielle asked.
“Look, as much as I love listening to the two of you bicker like an old married couple, I have a splitting headache. Think you can find me some aspirin?”
“I might have something even better,” Danielle said. “That is, if you’re up to it.”
Colt couldn’t believe it. Somehow Danielle had managed to get Lily Westcott in front of a hologram camera. Her image was standing in front of him looking as real as if she were right there in the room.
He reached out and touched the empty air that was her hand, and she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. Even though it was only a hologram, it felt so real.
“What happened to your hair?” she said, her perfect lips parted in a smile.
Colt rubbed his hand over the stubble. “Do you like it?”
“I’m not going to lie,” she said as the smile disappeared. “I liked it long. But you still look handsome.”
The smile returned, and Colt felt actual warmth erupt inside his chest.
“Mostly I’m just glad you’re still alive.”
“Look, I want to apologize for the way things ended back home,” he said, bowing his head to look at the ground. “I shouldn’t have left you alone, and then they arrested you and—”
Colt still felt guilty for abandoning Lily at the rodeo the night before he left for the CHAOS Academy. He had wanted to tell her how he felt—that he really cared about her, maybe even loved her—but then he got into a fight with a shape-shifting alien, and before he knew what was happening, he was detained by agents from the Department of Alien Affairs. Since Lily was there with him, she got detained as well.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I mean . . . maybe at first I was a little upset.”
“A little?”
“A lot,” she said, but she was smiling. “Your grandpa came over and explained what happened, though.”
“He did?”
She smiled, and Colt longed to take her in his arms. “He told us everything.”
“I should have called you. I wanted to apologize, but . . .” His voice trailed off as she stepped close enough that Colt imagined he could feel her breath on his cheek.
“All I wanted was to hear that you were all right. That we were all right.”
He touched his fingers to her holographic cheek, remembering how soft her skin was. “I didn’t want to make it harder than it already was.”
“I pray for you every night.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“Me too.” He stopped to consider what he had just said. “I mean, I pray for you. Not me.”
They both laughed.
“I know this might sound strange,” she said. “But let’s not talk. Let’s just be here together for a little while. Okay?”
Colt nodded, savoring each moment.
: :
CHAPTER 21 : :
Colt stood in one of the tunnels beneath Tesla Stadium waiting for his cue to take the field with the rest of the flight team. He could see members of the Virginia Tech marching band as they performed a medley of songs from the original Star Wars soundtrack in front of a capacity crowd that had grown well beyond standing room