Chameleon (The Domino Project Book 1) Read online

  Sai blinks at his retreating back. How did he know? She shakes her head to clear the nagging doubt. Three at a time will be the problem, not to mention combining her psionic and physical training. There were few classes on the theory behind it, and fewer still on practical usage.

  The GNW doesn’t want survivors.

  She pushes the thought away as soon as it flashes across her mind. Given the price of her awakening, it’s no wonder she’s considered a danger. She clenches her fists, determined to make up for her past, to prove her parents wrong.

  The door at the other side of the hall opens, distracting her from her thoughts. She stands straight and walks into the examination room. The door slams immediately behind her, and for a second, her body breaks out in a light sweat.

  It’s dimly lit, but she can make out some weapons scattered around. Sai feels her stomach twist at the realization that the weapons aren’t only for her to use, but for her opponents as well. The mundane selection gives her hope. Knives, maces, hammers, and swords, but no distance weapons. Not her preference, but at least she doesn’t have to resort to only her fists.

  As a gate cranks open on the far side of the room, Sai shakes her head to clear her mind.

  She readies herself for attack, hands guarding her face, knees slightly bent, ready to dodge. “I will not fail.” The words help soothe her nerves.

  Her robust opponent crouches low as he circles her. Darting in, she lands two quick punches to his solar plexus and jaw. While small in stature, she’s light on her feet and fires off strong, focused blows. He’s clumsier than expected and goes down easily.

  She frowns as he’s cleared from the room and her next opponent enters. The force of his mind is immediately obvious. Her shields slam up, and she hopes all her practice is enough. She’s better than her peers, but against someone this strong, any of them would be dust. His first onslaught takes her by surprise and rattles her head, but she deflects his push back at him and the momentum catches him by surprise. He falls awkwardly onto one of the hammers scattered around the room. The crunch is sickening, and his body goes limp.

  Her confusion at his ineptitude is stolen by the iridescent domino as it enters the room. It’s bigger than she expected, having only seen them from a distance before. The frequency of colors passing through its system makes her blink as she tries to follow the movements. Her eyes adapt slowly, picking the domino out from its camouflage just in time to dodge the first punch.

  Her own speed is barely enough to avoid the flurry of kicks and punches. Sai ducks in once with a lucky punch, barely avoiding the hybrid’s left hook. Two more quick punches and she rolls to the corner, crouching in wait for the next onslaught, nursing her hand as a reminder to reinforce her punches with psionics in the next attack.

  But it seems she only needs to score a hit on it three times before it backs off and the round is declared won. Her mind swims as the examiners announce she’s passed the first round. The opponents were far too easy. Cold sweat drips down her spine. Something is wrong.

  The second round of two opponents in each category stuns her, too. Almost as easy as the first victories, she finds herself starting to panic as the unconscious bodies are floated from the room.

  When the third round is announced and her opponents revealed, Sai’s stomach spasms. These men look brutal, covered in scars. Their forearms are the size of her waist, and they’re already armed. This. This is the real test.

  There’s no understanding in their eyes, just the same gleam she remembers from her parents and the beggars that surrounded her childhood home. The sheer focus of a Shine addict craving their next fix.

  Resolve set, she clenches her teeth and attacks first, taking the man on the left by complete surprise. Her kick lands squarely on his jaw, and he crashes to the floor. She grabs his mace, jabbing the butt into his skull before he can make another move. His head lolls to the side. One down. The other two back off, suddenly not quite so confident.

  Wary now, they’re tougher to fight. She avoids most of their attacks except one narrow miss that grazes her ribs. Heat sears her skin and blood trickles down her side. She sections off the pain and aims for their knees, caps the middle man with the mace in the left knee, and follows through with a sound kick to his other one, barely dodging the right guy in time.

  Mr. Right murmurs under his breath, his eyes staring at something she cannot see. She leverages two quick punches directly to his face before jumping back out of his reach and into a crouch to sweep his legs. A second later, Mr. Right lies on the floor clutching his knees and gasping something about coconuts and palm trees. Sai backs away, disgusted, and tries to catch her breath.

  She barely has time to take stock of her injuries before the wall opens to float the three humans out and deposit the psionics.

  Far more difficult than the previous battle, this one is at least less physical. Suggestion has never been her strong suit, but hours of boredom spent in her room rebuilding her shields gives her an edge. The ability to keep the attacks from directly affecting her mind makes it easier to concentrate on her offense.

  She resists the urge to use precious psionic energy to reinforce her physical skills in this stage. Punching them will disqualify her. The stipulation for her to use only psionics on her psionic opponents apparently doesn’t extend to their own restrictions.

  She forces one of them against the wall in a weak mimicry of Sixteen’s fate. The second stumbles as he’s about to attack, and she barely deflects it back on him in time. He slumps to the ground. Sai doesn’t have time to check if he’s breathing, but convinces herself he is.

  As she pushes the last one back against the opposite wall, her legs buckle for a moment. Sai holds him still long enough to rest a hand on his forehead and send him to sleep. She stands panting over the three subdued psionics, reinforcing the walls blocking her pain. Her head starts to pound with the effort as they’re removed and replaced with three dominos.

  The adrium-psionic hybrids are far stronger than any human. Their energy supply never ends, and the way the light refracts off their alien skin makes seeing them difficult, even when they’re not attempting to camouflage with their surroundings.

  “I will succeed.” She takes a brief moment to center herself and extends the shielding she uses for her mind underneath her skin. Her punches hit harder, even though she needs to draw on energy reserves to keep her speed up. Where it was difficult with one domino, it’s near impossible with three.

  It takes almost all of the energy she has left to keep two of them out of reach while she tries to score three hits on the third. Something brushes her shoulder briefly, and her left arm tingles. She pushes the irritation aside and focuses on hitting the dominos. They won’t let her tag them.

  Reinforcing her own attacks with psionic strength drains her. With one last desperate heave of power, she flings the first domino into the other two. The weight is heavier against her mind than she expected and the throw goes wild, catching the two remaining dominos at chin height and smashing their heads into the stone wall behind them, temporarily disorienting them. It appears to count.

  Sai would laugh but doesn’t have any spare energy. She needs to dredge up more stamina for her final round.

  She closes her eyes for a moment to regenerate what she can.

  The sound of the gate mechanism jolts her out of the mild trance. Three psionics and three dominos emerge. No humans. Six at once. And none of them an easy out. Her mind is tapped, and she feels an odd sense of peace start to wash over her.

  When the dark-haired psionic instigates his attack, she feels it in her gut at the same time she hears the strange hum she now associates with dominos. She closes her eyes to get her bearings and make her decision. Her last hope to survive this hell they pitted her against.

  “I will not be broken.”

  She reaches for the glimmer of power inside her and lets instinct take control.

  An incessant noise rips Sai out of her fitful sleep. Slowly, s
he flexes her left shoulder. A bit stiff and sore, but otherwise not that bad. Must have only been dislocated. As advanced as medicine has become, it still takes a week or three for broken bones to mend and medi-psi’s are hard to come by.

  She pushes herself up in bed, one that’s exactly like her own, and looks around the stark, white room. Machines beep, and the tiny dots affixed to her body so they can monitor her vitals make her skin itch. Sai scowls at them and winces when her eye hurts. Her head pounds softly, and she ignores the pain in her ankle as she pulls her legs up to her chest and rests her chin on her knees.

  The room doesn’t smell like lemon, and she finds herself missing it. Overhead the tiny window flickers softly with the lights from outside. It’s not been long since her test—about a day if her energy levels are any indication. She concentrates on breathing to calm the churning of her stomach. Her body will heal faster if she relaxes. She has no intentions of facing any more tests remotely handicapped.

  “You won’t be handicapped, you know.”

  Startled, Sai looks up, instantly regretting the pain that shoots through her body. The speaker is tall, with dark features, but something about him won’t stay with her. As though her eyes just refuse to focus properly on him.

  Sai scowls. “Why should I believe you?”

  He chuckles and moves to sit down on a white chair next to Sai’s bed. “Because I’ll be overseeing the next level of your training.”

  His voice is so familiar she knows she should be able to place it but can’t.

  “You were the assessor, at my final test,” she remembers, at least she thinks she does. Her mind isn’t working like she’s used to.

  He nods, and his piercing eyes never leave her face. She shivers again, wondering if he’s waiting for something.

  Suddenly he stands and walks toward the bed. Sai shrinks back and gives herself a mental slap for being intimidated.

  “I’m Bastian.” He smiles. The expression seems forced. “Didn’t mean to catch you off-guard.”

  Sai gapes at him, her mouth unable to listen to her demand that it close. The tugging in her stomach grows violent, and now the weird sensations around him make more sense. “Bastian? The Bastian?”

  He sighs. “Yes, yes.” He waves at her, as if trying to wipe the expression from her face.

  “Wait.” She sits up straighter, putting two and two together. “You’re going to oversee the next round of my training?”

  Bastian nods.

  “Why?” Sai finds herself whispering, almost scared of the answer.

  He shrugs and flips a hat she didn’t notice before onto his head. “Because you remind me of me,” is all he says before turning to her door. He pauses for a second, hand resting on the knob. “Rest well tonight. We’ll begin tomorrow.”

  Sai nods as the door clicks closed behind him. She shakes herself, angry at the slight hero worship she couldn’t manage to hide. The whispered stories about the young dean are dubious at best. Even the things that paint him in a bad light only serve to make her more curious. At one stage, she thought him a myth. Suddenly, her training no longer seems daunting and the next day can’t come soon enough.

  Sai isn’t usually a heavy sleeper. The fuzziness in her head when she wakes the following morning leaves her disoriented.

  “Eat up, miss.”

  Sai frowns and focuses on the nurse. “Could you tell me where I have to go after I finish?”

  The nurse smiles gently. “We’ll have someone down to guide you in about twenty minutes.”

  “I don’t need a guide. Just tell me what building I’m headed to.”

  For a few moments, the nurse looks at her, eyebrows raised a little awkwardly before she takes a deep breath and pats Sai’s arm gently. “Didn’t anyone tell you, dear?”

  At Sai’s blank expression, the woman continues. “You were moved last night. From GNW United Conglomerate 17 to UC Central. You won’t know your way around here.”

  “I’m in the capital city already?” Sai asks.

  The nurse laughs. “Mr. Bastian isn’t in the habit of sticking around in other cities. His headquarters are here.” The woman leaves the room after pointing at a set of clothing left on the side table.

  Sai dresses slowly. A low hum seeps into the room, steady in its rhythm. Though she knew she would be moved, she hadn’t realized it had already happened. How much did they sedate her? How bad had her wounds been? Why had Bastian not mentioned it the day before?

  Because it’s irrelevant to the situation, you idiot. You’re lucky to be alive.

  She breathes deep and focuses her thoughts again, seeking the fleeting calm that keeps abandoning her, and is surprised to hear the familiar soothing sounds of the GNW mantra echo through the room in a whisper.

  For your own safety, please do not leave your designated areas. Report any unauthorized personnel immediately. Remember, the future of the GNW depends on you.

  The knock at the door interrupts her concentration, and she sighs as she calls out: “Come in. It’s open.”

  Sai isn’t sure who she expected to accompany her to her first training session, but it definitely isn’t the domino standing in front of her.

  She scowls, squinting at the hybrid. “What’re you doing here?”

  “Domino 12 reporting to collect you.”

  His gold eyes gleam, the color uniform where the pupil should separate from the iris, and somehow the sclera is so white it’s almost silver. She wonders if she looked close enough, she’d be able to see gears twirling in his head, even though she knows he’s not a machine. The ability to combine the parasitic metal adrium with psionic DNA has always fascinated her.

  Though his hair is a constant auburn, his body keeps changing hues. Everything about him shifts, constantly. Iridescent is the only way she can think of to describe him and even that is inaccurate. His clothing melds in and out with the room making it disconcerting to look at him. The only thing solid about him are his eyes and the faintly etched twelve on his left shoulder. Not one of the dominos from her test.

  For a moment he seems to smile at her, and she chides herself for stupid illusions. He’s a domino; they don’t have emotions.

  “Ready,” she says in a stiff voice.

  He motions ahead and falls into step with her. “After you’re finished training for the day, I will escort you to your new quarters.” He pauses, as if searching for how to express what he wants to say. Sai tries to stop herself from finding him so fascinating. “They are larger than in other cities.”

  She marks every twist and turn in the corridors, every nook and cranny she passes, the air ducts, and any exits or hidden doors she can spot. Surviving people who like to pick on someone they perceive as weaker can lead to a whole array of skills.

  Seven floors up and a significant amount of floor space over, Domino 12 stops her at double steel doors and knocks two times. The doors swing inward silently and open into a large room with a desk on the far side. The desk itself is situated with its back to three huge windows overlooking the entire city.

  Sai can see the tops of the apartment blocks as they stretch out beneath them in the circular style of the city, links of radiating lines that meet at the Central building like a jagged spider web.

  The squalor of the outlying blocks isn’t visible from here, like refuse shunted to the fringe. The gleam of the city’s dome flickers softly in and out of hiding as GNW’s plethora of advertisements wink in and out of play.

  Bastian stands behind the desk, watching the view. His attire resembles the dominos from her exam—all black. She finds herself inching toward the desk, regardless of how harmless Twelve appeared on the walk up to the office.

  “You can go now,” Bastian commands without turning away from the window.

  The domino nods and turns, leaving Sai and Bastian alone in the room.

  For a few seconds Bastian stays where he is, and then he turns around and the subtle flickering lights that illuminate his office wash a strange blue wave
over his face. He points to one of the chairs near Sai. “Sit.”

  She does. He’s colder than she remembers. Distant. Perhaps learning under someone like him isn’t going to be exactly what she thought.

  Bastian paces a few steps, sits on the corner of the desk closest to her, and puts his chin on his hand. “Do you remember me?”

  “You gave me my final test.” Even as the words come out of her mouth, Sai’s certain that’s not the answer he wants to hear.

  He sighs. “Before that? No recollection at all?”

  “Your voice?” she asks softly.

  He smiles, so briefly Sai almost thinks it’s an illusion.

  “You were in shock.” His words are crisp and clear as he stands up and turns to sit in his chair. He steeples his fingers and peers at her over his hands. “When you came into your power, I found you. Tracking is one of my lesser skills. Finding other psionics, especially when their powers haven’t awoken, is almost impossible. It’s good to see you’ve come this far.”

  So many unanswered questions pop into Sai’s head. She stares at him, not quite comprehending that he found her, followed by the bitter afterthought that perhaps he should not have.

  “Don’t think like that.” His reprimand is quiet, direct, and cuts right through her self-pity. “I was like you once, except I was born into a family who understood. Use what you have with honor and goodness and you’ll redeem any guilt you believe you should have.”

  Sai blinks at him. The words burn into her brain. She clears the frog from her throat before speaking. “What sort of training am I here for?”

  This time Bastian smiles at her. There’s vindication in the expression. “We’re going to hone a few memory-sifting techniques.”

  Nearing the end of her first training session with Bastian, Sai decides her final exam was easy. Memory-sifting pulls so much energy, it makes her whole body ache. She hurts in places she didn’t know existed and her head pounds. As she comes to understand what Bastian meant by honing techniques, she realizes having him as her mentor will be grueling.