Pisces
Chapter 7

We said nothing during the flight. Matt knew I’d beencrying. He also knew I was furious, and that had most likely been thedetermining factor in why he kept his mouth shut. Once again I was grateful forit. We both had our own issues to deal with, and neither of us felt liketalking about them.

I wanted to hate Matt at first. But during my walk to theship I realized he couldn’t have been involved with Noah. He was just a littleolder than me and joined a year ago. So while my hate for GASPR grew, I appreciatedhaving Matt with me. It reassured me to know I had someone I could trust in allof this.

“We’re entering ChelyabinskOblast’s airspace,” Matt said. I glanced out the window and saw evergreenmountains rising up into the air, their peaks capped with snow. It looked likespring was just beginning here.

“How long until we reach Chebarkul,” I asked.

“Weather permitting, about another two hours. And thatdoesn’t include how Russia’s military will handle our arrival.”

That was a problem. Although global cooperation was at anall time high, landing on any military base unexpectedly wasn’t advisable. Wecould only hope that GASPR’s reputation could help us out.

An hour later we entered Chebarkul’s military airspace, anda warning broadcasted through our radio. Neither of us spoke Russian, butthankfully a built in translator eased the communication. Matt explained weneeded permission for an emergency landing, but nothing worked so Matt turnedthe plane into a wide arc to appear unthreatening. After a few minutes of goingback and forth, the commander of the air traffic control came onto the radioand Matt explained the situation again. Another five minutes passed and thecommander granted us permission to land. Great, but we’d also tacked on nearlyanother hour worth of time wasted.

By the time we landed, we only had five hours until Halleyreached its peak. The sun was already setting, and we still had another hourdrive before we reached the inner circle of the energy field. Despite thestrength of the pull inside me, I still didn’t feel like stumbling around a frozenwilderness at night. We needed to hurry.

But politics seemed like it wanted to stop us at every step,and we wasted another two hours waiting, talking, explaining, waiting, moretalking, until finally I snapped and the room disappeared when I forced thewalls to collapse under their own weight.

Accidental—sure, but it got my point across. The soldier turnednervous, the commander paled, and we were quickly escorted out of the base andto Lake Chebarkul.

By the time we reached the island night had fallen, anotherhour had passed, and despite being touchy—I could feel the pull of the artifactstronger than ever. My heart sped up as I stepped out of the jeep, and myentire body tingled like it was touching a battery. Automatic steps drew myfeet to the edge of the lake.

Wait, it was in the lake?!

The ground beneath me started quaking as I glared out acrossthe frozen water. I heard one of the soldiers mutter something to Matt, but Ipaid no attention to it. I focused more on not bursting a blood vessel.

“The captain says the entire lake is still frozen,” Mattsaid coming up to me. “Since it’s so early in spring, we can still walk outacross it.”

I blinked—my frustration quickly washing away and replacingwith excitement. Nodding, I allowed the pull to draw me out on top of thewater. It wasn’t so bad if you didn’t think about falling through and drowningin a black, icy, abyss.

Nope. Just follow the mysterious energy Nora.

The soldiers opted to stay on shore, so Matt and I made thewalk ourselves. The sky was clear, the temperature near zero, and our breathsplumed before us. Multiple times I found my eyes drawn up as we walked, and Ibecame lost in the galaxy as my feet carried me on their own. I could see thecomet too—nearly halfway across the sky and moving fast. We were running out oftime.

My feet came to a stop, and before us a buoy sat in the ice.Attached to the buoy a metal plaque displayed a Russian inscription. Matt tooka picture on his phone, and a second later the writing translated.

“Here marks the spot where the largest remnant of the 2013Chelyabinsk meteor was recovered. On February 15th, 2013 the meteoritestruck the frozen lake at an estimated speed of 225m/sec. When the fragment wasfinally recovered from the bottom of the lake on October 16th 2013,the meteorite weighed 654kg.”

“This is it,” I said looking down at the ice.

“But the sign says it was recovered.” Matt’s brows furrowed,“Why did it draw you here if the actual meteorite is gone?”

“What if it isn’t,” I said. “What if what we’re looking forbroke off during the recovery and it’s still buried down there?”

Matt shrugged and looked up at the sky. “We have no way ofknowing for sure, and we’re running out of time.”

I nodded and focused on the pull. It was deep. Really deep.Palms facing the ice, I imagined a tube punching through the ice and down intothe lake bed. A few seconds later, the ice in front of us exploded upwards anda concrete tube rose a foot above the ice. Matt gaped at the construct I’dmade, but then shone his flashlight into the center.

“Nice job,” He said raising an eyebrow, “But what about thewater?”

I smirked at him, and a few seconds later a large metal diskappeared on top the water. Stepping up on it, I motioned for him to join me. Whilehe did, I knelt down and placed my hands on the metal and focused. Heat rippledthrough my body, sweat beaded on my forehead, and we started to sink as Iincreased the density of the metal.

“How are you removing the water,” Matt asked.

“One way valves,” I said panting.

We reached the bottom after a minute of descending, and witha quick motion of my hands the density of the metal inverted until it collapsedunder the pressure of the atmosphere. That’s when my legs gave out and Icollapsed to my knees sinking into the icy mud of the lake bed.

“You’re pushing yourself too hard,” Matt said. “You’re newto this. World record core or not, you don’t have the experience of using it.”

After a few minutes of catching my breath, I managed tocreate some shovels and Matt broke three glow sticks. Then came the hard part.

It felt like we spent an eternity shoveling. I was alreadytired, but the physical labor just exhausted me. I prided myself in my cardiofrom my MMA training, but this sucked something else entirely. Plus, with eachshovel of mud we pulled away, the strength of the meteorite grew even strongermaking the very air hard for me to breathe. Finally it came to the point whereMatt had to continue shoveling while I just sat in the cold mud and just focusedon getting air into my lungs.

We thought we had a ways to go still, but when Matt tossedone of his shovels to the side I felt a pull so hard I actually fell towardsthe pile.

“I think this is it,” I said.

I reached forward to sift through the pile, but Matt’s handstopped me.

“Let me do it. We don’t know what will happen when you touchit.” I nodded and Matt stuck his hands into the mud. A few seconds later he pulledit out.

Wiping the stone on his coat, Matt held it up. Even in the dimlight the piece shone with a black luster. I stared at it, eyes unable to pullaway until finally I fell to my knees again gasping for breath. I’d forgottento breathe!

“Put it away,” I choked out, and Matt opened his backpackand placed the artifact inside an insulated container.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said and then paused. “Um, howare we getting out of here?”

That was a good question. I guess a ladder—

A screech filled the air making me jump and shocking Matt. Istared at the construct wide-eyed. I hadn’t even focused on making it and thething had appeared. If this was what the meteorite could do, then what the hellwould happen if I bonded to it?

It took ten minutes to climb up, and when I finally reachedthe surface I flopped on my back gasping for air. Matt wasn’t too far behindme, and when he broke the surface he immediately ripped off his coat. But hedidn’t wait for me to catch my breath. Instead he picked me up, throwing an armaround my waist while placing one of mine around his neck. If I hadn’t been sodamn tired I probably would’ve blushed at the contact. Hard to ignore leanmuscle when you’re pressed against it. Someone was hiding something.

“C’mon,” Matt said. “We need to get back to the plane.”

We made it a few steps before he stopped in his tracks.

“Hello, Pisces.”