First World(60)

That must be the heaviness I could feel in the air. “It feels different to the one we took here.”

He nodded. “Yes, it is unusual. But as long as we don’t step too close, we should be fine.”

I could feel his unease spreading through our group.

“I don’t feel anything.” Quarn looked around. “Where is it?”

Josian pointed to the far corner. “It’s in the space over there, although there seems to be a trailing of power I don’t like.”

I was feeling a little nauseated. Like a cloak of heaviness was pressing down on my stomach, threatening to expel all the delicious food I had eaten earlier.

Lallielle moved closer to Josian. He draped one of his massive long arms around her protectively.

I stepped around them, staying as far from that corner as possible. Moving across the cold room, I made my way to the built-in shelves lining the back wall. Nauseating shivers continued to wrack my body.

Shoving a few of the blue workout mats to the side, I wrinkled my nose as the smell of old sweat assaulted me, bringing back a few memories. I sighed, reminded of how much I loved fight class. Skills I was sure to be utilizing in the very near future.

I had to crouch down to check the bottom lockers first. After some rummaging through old clothes and ratty bits of screwed-up paper, I did manage to find a familiar small blue box – compound-issued lock-picking kit.

Bending from his lofty heights, Brace peered over my shoulder. “I doubt that is much of a weapon, Red.”

Quarn laughed derisively. “I am constantly amazed at the weapons they utilize on Earth. Sometimes they are much smaller than you’d expect.”

Brace looked more interested now.

I shook my head. “Sorry to disappoint. This is just a lock-pick kit.”

I stood quickly, forgetting Brace was right above me. I smacked hard into his chest, and am pretty sure I saw stars as I fell to the floor again.

Reaching down, he helped me back to my feet. His hand lingered just longer than necessary on my own, the sparks between us alive and well, even in the dead zone.

I shook my head and stepped around the group. The tall locker was the storage vessel for this compound’s training weapons. And also the reason I needed the pick kit.

Josian reached out to grab my arm. “That is where the rift is.”

I shrugged off my over-protective father. “I know, but I need to get into that cabinet. I’ll be careful,” I assured him.

Josian turned back to the group. “You all stay here.”

Quarn and Brace’s expressions were a mirror of annoyance, but they didn’t comment.

I took the four steps across the room. Josian was on my butt the entire way. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Go from having no parents to hovering worried ones in a matter of hours. Yeah, okay, I kind of liked it.

When I reached the cabinet, the energy was so strong I almost gagged. Swallowing loudly around the lump in my throat, I flipping open the blue box and withdrew the two-piece tools. This locking mechanism was slightly more technical than the ones we generally practiced on, so it took a few minutes of twisting. The quiet in the room made the job easier. Finally, as the last of the grooves clicked into place, the bolt opened up.

Yanking the door open, I peered inside.

“Anything we can use?” Josian peered over my head, riffling through the higher shelves.

Damn these giants.

Focusing on the contents, I smiled, one of my first true ones since Lucy’s disappearance. We were going in armed.

Reaching forward, I grabbed a handful of palm-sized grenades. Dark gray in color, they had small red tags attached to their detonator pins. Smoke and gas grenades, we used them in simulation practices, but they were real. Apparently that was the only way to really understand their debilitating nature. More like the only way Olden could torture us and receive payment for it.

They weren’t lethal, but damn you’d find yourself dizzy and disorientated.

Josian opened his pack.

I placed them inside with care. “These grenades will be perfect for our initial infiltration,” I said as I went back to the cabinet. “And these goggles are night vision and assisted breathing.” I threw one to everyone. “Keep them on you until we get there.”

I went back to the hidden gold mine in the cabinet.

“Pepper spray.” I held it up so they all could see. “Spray straight into their eyes.” I moved on to the next gem. “Tasers – hold and press.” They were high voltage, knock an elephant down.

I pressed the button; Brace looked impressed as the visible electricity arced across the prongs.

Near the back, I found the gun lock box. Dragging the heavy container toward me, I dropped it to the floor. It rattled loudly. I crossed my fingers that it still contained the training weapons.