Chapter 12
Gemma was hidden under her desk in her makeshift sensory-deprivation cell. She didn’t need to be this time, though, because the outside world wasn’t bombarding her with information she couldn’t control. This time, it was her emotions that wouldn’t give her any rest.
What just happened?
She’d been kissing him, the perfect male, and one thing had led to another. It just happened to be the thing she’d wanted, and not for a minute did she regret being led there. For the first time, she’d been exposed to sensuality and with someone who heated her blood.
She couldn’t have helped herself if she’d wanted to. It felt too damn good. Not to mention that the whole time, she’d been able to experience it with singular focus. No intruding observations, no compulsive analysis. Just pure, unadulterated sex.
Even now, the effects lingered. The world was still there, still ready to be catalogued and analyzed, but it wasn’t intruding. It was waiting patiently for her attention, to be utilized or not, on the basis of her own decision. It was as if her entire perceptual system had been reorganized to put her at the helm. At long last, she was able to experience the world as other humans did.
And she couldn’t even thank the guy who’d given her this remarkable gift because he’d ordered her not to speak to him.
Gemma was more confused about what had happened after their interlude than anything else. He’d been so sweet, so tender—until he hadn’t been. Ian had offered to remove his curse from her but then something had gone wrong. He’d accused her of being something she’d never heard of. A Seeker.
It seemed these creatures had special powers as well, ones not unlike Ian’s own, if she could venture a guess. There was something deep and vital going on here, and she was totally out of the loop. Now that she could think straight, maybe she could do something to prove to him that she wasn’t the enemy and that she’d had nothing to do with his loss of powers.
No matter how upset he’d gotten, she still couldn’t think ill of him. He was her savior, the man who’d rescued her from a life of suffering. The least she could do was try and help him accomplish whatever it was that had brought him to RPS and into her life.
But how? She needed more information. When she was a child, she’d been barraged with information. At home. At school. In the general environment. Every piece of input was taken in, examined, catalogued, and not forgotten. But in all that wealth of information, every bit of which she remembered and could now access on demand, she’d never heard of the Seekers.
This task would require more than the general fodder the holo-television provided. And she was certain RPS’s small library would not be up to the task either. She needed an unrefined data stream that she could sift through. And that meant getting access to a console.
The most unfettered access belonged to the chief of staff. The console in his office was state of the art. But did she have the balls to break in there like James had before? Could she even figure out how to get inside? And what if Dr. Grimm came back while she was busy searching for information?
I need help. And I know just where to get it from.
The mess hall was mostly empty, but she saw Charlie in the corner, her feet on the seat and her arms wrapped around her knees. Gemma made a beeline for her friend, tapping her on the shoulder.
“What?” Charlie asked. Her eyes widened when she realized it was Gemma who had tapped on her.
“I need your help. Please don’t say no.”
“You’re talking again!” Charlie leapt up from the seat to hug her. “What’s going on?”
“I need to break into Grimm’s office to access his data console.”
Charlie’s mouth dropped open. “Are you kidding me? You can barely watch holo-TV without going all glazed-eye on me. How are you going to sift through all the input from a data console?”
Gemma shrugged. “I’m better now.”
“You’re better now?” Charlie shook her head. “And just how were you magically cured?”
“I’m not sure. But I don’t have a lot of time right now to discuss. I’ve got to do this. Are you in or not?”
“Why not?” Her friend gave her a smile. “What do you need me to do?”
“Distract Grimm.”
Charlie’s smile disappeared. “Why do I have to deal with that asshole?”
“Because I don’t want him walking into his office while I’m busy. Something weird is going on here at RPS, and if he finds me working the console, he’s going to know something is up with me. I’d like to fly under the radar with the staff until I figure out what’s going on. That means no one can catch me not acting catatonic.”
“Got it,” Charlie said with a nod. “But how am I supposed to distract the asshole?”
“You’ll figure something out. Didn’t you just get out of therapy with him?”
Charlie rolled her eyes. “Therapy, if you can call it that. Mostly, he just stared at me while that new lady doctor asked me a bunch of inane questions.”
