Page 18 of Only Hard Problems
The right side of the lab was empty. I stopped to listen, but once again, I only heard the faint hiss of the air-conditioning system. Next, I reached out with my psion power. Once again that presence tweaked my mind, like a cool finger tickling the back of my brain, but I didn’t sense any loud thoughts or strong emotions from the other person. No sweaty panic, no heart-pounding worry, no stomach-churning dread.
My respect for Silas rose another notch. By this point, most people would have donesomethingto break the tense silence, even if it was just shifting on their feet, but he seemed to have ice in his veins, the same as me.
I moved my stormsword to the left, still using the lunarium blade as a makeshift flashlight to peer across the floor. The pale blue glow illuminated four legs on a workstation about thirty feet away from me, along with five legs on a nearby stool . . .
Wait. I stopped and shone the light back at the stool. The intruder yanked his foot back, stepping deeper into the shadows, but it was too late.
Triumph flashed through me.Got you!
I didn’t make a sound, but Silas must have known that he’d been spotted because a shadowy figure detached itself from a piece of machinery and bolted toward the lab door. I cursed, shot to my feet, and headed in that direction.
The intruder had a straight, open, easy path toward the exit, but several workstations were standing in my way. Instead of wasting valuable time weaving around the stations, I grabbed hold of the side of the closest one, vaulted myself up onto it, and then used my telekinesis to slide across the slick polyplastic surface and drop down to the opposite side.
I repeated that process over and over, knocking terminals, tools, plastipapers, folders, cups, and gelpens off the stations in my slip-sliding wake and making the objectsping-ping-pingacross the tile floor. I grimaced at the noise and kept going.
The figure darted out the open lab door. I slid over one last workstation, landed on my feet, and chased after him.
The shadow was already halfway down the corridor, but I sprinted in that direction, using my telekinesis to make my steps longer than normal, until I was bounding, rather than running. The intruder was quick and light on his feet, but I was rapidly cutting down the distance between us.
The thief ran by a hoverglobe, which illuminated the dark gray cloak covering his body. No wonder he had melted into the shadows in the workshop . . .
I frowned. Wait. Silas had been wearing House Rojillo armor when I’d last seen him. Where had he gotten that cloak from?
But it didn’t really matter. The cloak might have helped him hide before, but all that long, flowing fabric was going to doom him now.
I put on an extra burst of speed, bounded forward, and grabbed the back of the cloak. The shadowy figure let out a startled cry, but I fisted my hand in the sleek fabric and jerked him to the side, using my telekinesis to slam him into the closest wall.
Silas bounced off the gray tile, yanked something out of his pocket, and whirled around. A small blaster glinted a wicked silver in the semidarkness. I snapped up my sword and lunged forward, ready to drive the blade through his heart and pin him to the wall like a mammoth butterfly.
The intruder jerked to the side, making the hood of the cloak fall down and revealing his—no, her—features.
Black hair, silver eyes, furious expression.
The shadow wasn’t Silas, the rogue guard.
It was Asterin Armas.
CHAPTER FIVE
ZANE
Istoppedmystrike,my stormsword hovering three inches away from Asterin’s heart. She also stopped, although her blaster remained leveled at my chest.
“What in all the stars are you doing here?” I snapped. “This is a restricted area. None of the solstice guests are allowed near Jorge’s labs.”
She lifted her chin and gave me a cool look. “I could ask you the same thing, Zane.”
We continued our staring contest, our weapons still up and at the ready. Several seconds ticked by in tense, hostile silence.
Finally, I blew out a breath, stepped back, and lowered my sword. Asterin was as stubborn as I was, so threats wouldn’t work on her. Besides, I had no desire to get shot in the chest and see exactly how powerful her compact blaster was.
Asterin eyed me a moment longer, but she slowly lowered the blaster to her side, then slipped the weapon into a pocket in her long gray skirt.
“Iknewyou had a weapon tucked away in there.”
Asterin smoothed down her skirt. “It seemed prudent when dancing with you.”
I arched an eyebrow. “I wondered if you might shoot me in the middle of the dance floor. That would be one way to thwart our families’ matchmaking efforts.”