Chapter 20

Rhuyin

Almost a week after the events at the Pavilion I entered the Omada headquarters, more than a little surprised by how damn cheerful the decorating was in this part of the building.

I'd been there several times over the last few days, between ducking Dagan and completing my duty shifts. It had taken all this time to gather the courage to walk through the doors, but once inside, it was not what I'd expected.

The walls were painted an obnoxiously bright yellow. There were plants everywhere with orange and red blooms whose scent was almost overpowering. I barely held back a sneeze when I walked in.

The blonde human girl at the reception desk looked up at me and smiled brightly.

"Hello! Welcome to Omada! How can I help you?"

"I'd—I'd like to talk to someone about signing up."

If I hadn't been watching for it I wouldn't have noticed the slight falter in her bright smile.

"Of course! Can you please fill out these forms? I'll get someone to speak with you right away."

I took the data tablet from her and began filling it out with the minutiae that defined my life. Name. Address. ID number. Next of kin.

I hovered over the last question for a moment before finally listing Dag's name. I had been avoiding him and taken to sleeping away from the apartment to avoid explaining my decision. He'd be furious with me when he found out. I remembered the happy smile on his face as he introduced me to Deliah the day of the Touchpoint and I swallowed hard. He would be okay. She would make sure of it.

He had almost caught me last night as I stumbled back to the apartment, desperate for a clean uniform. I saw him talking to one of the other Somas about his Bonded.

"…and she's friends with the prince!"

"Any of them still unbonded?" one of the other Somas asked.

"Nah. They've all been snapped up. You knew they wouldn't be alone long."

"I thought there was still a couple who hadn't Bonded."

"Nah," Dag had shook his head. "If they aren't Bonded already, they've chosen and will be Bonded soon."

I had snuck away, a pit opening in my stomach. Of course Luke would have found someone who was a better match. The despair had returned then in double measure. After a sleepless night I walked inside the Omada headquarters the next morning.

As I sat in the overly-cheerful room, I filled out the rest of the forms until I got the last question.

Why do you want to join Omada?

How did you answer that kind of question? The best chance I had at a match turned out to be a Prince who would never want me? Or how about I should make room for someone who has at least some hope of being chosen?

I shook my head and finally decided to just put Personal reasons.

I gave the tablet back to the blonde girl. I couldn't afford to disappear into my own head, so I forced myself to stay alert. There was no one here to tell me if they called my name and I missed it.

After a few minutes I saw a commander walk down the hall. I saw him call my name and stood.

"Diokitis," I said, saluting. He returned my salute solemnly.

"Katastrofis. I am Commander O'Fallon. Follow me please."

He led me down a hallway into a conference room that was a little more somber than the lobby had been. I saw him say something, but because he was facing away from me I couldn't read what it was.

"I'm sorry, sir. I am mostly deaf. If you could look at me when you speak, it would help me be able to understand you."

He looked surprised but turned to face me.

"Is that part of your ‘personal reasons', Corporal?"

I shrugged.

"It certainly doesn't help, sir," I managed.

He glanced at the data tab in his hands.

"Is this a recent occurrence?"

"No sir, I've been deaf most of my life."

"That makes your performance scores even more impressive. You've matched multiple times, I see." He looked me up and down. "You're young yet. You could still find your Bonded."

"It's—that's highly unlikely, sir. I was recently removed from Touchpoint consideration. All four of my previous matches chose other Somas." I guess it was actually five now, wasn't it? Since Luke was going to Bond with someone else.

"You have excellent scores, Dekaneas Katastrofis," he said. "Omada would be lucky to have you. Frankly, we tend to get people who aren't very good at fighting. Or rather, people who have given up fighting."

He thumbed a little further through my record before setting the data tab down.

"Hearing challenges or no, joining Omada is not something you do on a whim, Dekaneas. Omada takes the hopeless cases, the missions from which it is highly unlikely anyone will return from. Do you have friends? Lovers? Who is… Dekaneas Dagan to you?" he asked, referring back to the paperwork I had completed.

"Dagan is my friend, sir. A fellow soldier. He recently met his Bonded at the last Touchpoint," I said in way of explanation. "I met him in basic training."

He harrumphed.

"No family. No other…connections?"

I shook my head as he continued to review my file.

"Wait. You're the Soma who was pulled from the rubble of the explosion at the Pavilion?"

I nodded in answer to his question.

"That was a helluva thing. How did you survive?"

I shrugged. "There was an Earth Mageia there who shielded us. He's the one who saved us."

"Hm." He looked down again. "And this Mageia—was he Bonded?"

I wasn't sure where he was going with this, but I shook my head.

"He wasn't that day, but I understand he will be soon."

"He's going to be insanely powerful, then."

He looked at me a moment longer, with perhaps more comprehension than I was comfortable with. He seemed to sniff the air for a moment, as if he smelled something that confused him, then sneezed. I didn't blame him, the pollen from the flowers that were everywhere in the complex were making my eyes water.

"I just want to be of use, sir. It doesn't look like that's going to happen as a Bonded, so I'd like to find something that would be… worthwhile."

"You have excellent scores, Dekaneas Katastrofis," he said again as he looked through my records, almost as if he couldn't believe them. "I just want to make sure you know what you are getting yourself into."

"I do," I said quietly. The despair I was feeling must have shown in my face as he looked at me compassionately. I rubbed my nose, suddenly realizing the man in front of me smelled like nutmeg, of all things. Was I going crazy? I'd always had a sensitive nose, even as a kid, but the last few days it seemed like everyone I was running into needed to lay off the cologne. Or, in this guy's case, the baked goods.

"You're very young, Katastrofis. I'm impressed with your performance but being disqualified from the Touchpoint program had to have been a shock. Some Somas do find their match outside the program."

"I've matched four times now, sir," I said tonelessly. "My disability makes it unlikely I will ever be chosen as a Bonded. This, at least, is something I can do to help my country."

He stared at me solemnly for several moments before handing me a packet of materials.

"I will accept your request for transfer, but I want to be clear that up until mission launch, any Omada member is able to resign their commission and return to their regular duties. Once a mission is a go, though, we complete it without hesitation. Damn the consequences."

I nodded. I had expected little else. He shook my hand and told me they would be contacting me in the next few days.

"You will be relieved of regular duty for the next seven days. Polemos is not necessarily a fan of Omada," he confided as he signed papers. "He instituted a waiting period for anyone signing up. Helps us avoid any sudden changes of heart."

I nodded. I was disappointed they were going to wait so long before deploying me, but I understood. I just really didn't want to have to explain my decision to Dagan.

He escorted me to the lobby and shook my hand solemnly before dismissing me. It was well past dinner by the time I got home. I needed a shower and about two days' worth of sleep.

I passed Dag's darkened door. He appeared to still be out. Hopefully he was with Deliah, getting to know her a little better.

I stripped quickly and stepped into the steaming spray of my shower. My eyes closed as I leaned my forehead against the cool tile and let the world fall away. No sound, no one to see, no one to judge if the water dripping down my face might be slightly salty. Visions of blue-gray eyes and golden caramel hair flashed in my mind and I sighed.

Why did I do this to myself?

Luke was—amazing. Smart. Brave. And a fucking Prince. No wonder he hadn't wanted anything to do with me. Some secret part of me had hoped that I would at least hear something from him once he got out of the infirmary, but I'd stopped by on my way home from the Omada headquarters and checked. He had been released shortly after I had left. He was probably meeting with the Somas he matched with even as I was walking home. Kopanos had mentioned there were at least four.

I knocked my head against the wall twice, making my head ring like a bell. I had to stop thinking about Luke. Stop thinking about any Mageia. I'd joined Omada, and that was the end of it.

Weirdly the vibration from banging my head on the wall hadn't stopped. In fact, it seemed to be getting…stronger? What the hell?

I saw a bottle of shampoo fall off a shelf to splash noiselessly across the shower floor, the tiny vibration as the bottle hit the ground almost undetectable against the growing vibration I felt in the earth. Panic suddenly flooded my chest, as well as a growing certainty. There was only one Mageia I knew of powerful enough to cause this.

Luke.

Something was wrong with Luke.

I yanked a pair of pants on and was sprinting down the hall, pausing at the stairway to pull a t-shirt over my head. I had to get to Luke. The only problem was, I had no real idea where he was.