Alex silently clapped her hands before patting Brath on the back. “I would never have thought you were the one who’d have the gift of gab. I’d upgrade you from bronze to silver.”
Brath took a quick bow, his smile a little less smug than usual. The gnome looked like he was genuinely happy with the compliment. “Nice thing about being a gnome is when you start rattling off mechanical jargon, everyone takes your word. Everyone assumes we’re always working on their crap.”
Gill pointed down the hallway and said, “Come on, this way to the stables.”
Brath and the rest of Team Boundless went running down the halls toward the stables, hoping to get there before anyone noticed them, Gill checking his map every couple of seconds just to make sure they didn’t run into anyone.
Finally, they arrived at the stables. Alex opened the door, and they stepped through. Her heart sank as she saw the state they were in.
Chapter Four
The stables were nothing like those in the Wasp’s Nest. These seemed to be in complete disrepair. It was hard to tell the last time a dragon had been in the place.
Computer equipment was torn up, and there were cables and internal mechanical pieces all over the floor. It looked like a bomb had gone off inside a massive computer. Alex wasn’t certain how she was going to make heads or tails of what to do for Chine.
She had a very limited idea of what changing equipment and maintenance was going to be like. Alex had only seen the equipment attached before. She hadn’t gotten to the part of training where she was taught how to detach anything.
Boundless wandered around the stables. All the other members looked confused by the state of the stables as well. “Isn’t this a dragonriders’ facility?” Jim wondered out loud. “How the hell do they take care of their dragons with everything so…busted up?”
Brath leaned over the side of the area that the dragons were usually kept. It didn’t look like anything had been there for some time. “Maybe they don’t have any dragons,” Brath suggested. “This place looks like it hasn’t been used for years.”
Alex tapped one of the computers and then hit its power button. The machine remained off. “That’s probably why they aren’t mounting a rescue party for Roy and Toppinir—they don’t have the resources. I thought they were just being jerks. How did this happen?”
Gill sat down in the control center of the stables. “No idea, but it isn’t good. It couldn’t have been funding. Myrddin has a nearly infinite budget. Perks of being an alchemist. Whatever happened here must have been something else. Who knows? We should focus on our situation.”
“You’re right. Let’s get this sorted out.”
Alex reached out telepathically to Chine. Where are you guys?
A mighty roar ripped through the air. Alex looked up at the opening in the ceiling. The dragons were flying overhead. They zoomed down into the stables, gracefully separating and taking up residence in the augment section of the stables. “Gill, can you get this stuff back online?” Alex asked.
Gill took a look at the main computer of the control center and sighed. “Yeah, I probably can. Might take a bit of time, but I’ll get it running.”
Alex hit her comm and patched to Jollies. “Hey, girl, how’s the search going?” she asked.
Jollies’ voice came through the comm, frantic and panicked. “I’m in the war room, but there isn’t a holograph. I can’t find it. I’m going to fail the only mission I have!”
“Hey, hey, calm down. Hold on; we’ll figure this out.”
Alex ran over to Chine and jumped down into his resting spot. The dragon rose when he saw her. Hey, Chine, can you do me a favor?
Chine stretched out his wings slowly as he nodded. What do you need?
Jollies’ eyes. She’s having a hard time finding what she’s looking for. Maybe if she had an extra set of eyes, it could help her out.
Chine closed his eyes, and Alex took that as a yes. She came over to the dragon, sat down beneath his wings, and closed her eyes.
Alex felt a tickling behind her eyeballs, a soft scratching like something was moving around in the back of her skull. When she opened her eyes, she was no longer in the stables. Everything around her was moving very fast—far too fast to make any sense of it. “Hey, Jollies, slow down,” Alex shouted.
Jollies froze, or at least, Alex thought that she had stopped moving. Alex’s viewpoint had at least stopped moving. “Uh, Alex?” Jollies asked.
“Don’t worry about anything. I’m just looking through your eyes so I can give you a hand finding the holograph map. That’s all.”
“Wait, you’re looking through my eyes? How many fingers am I holding up?”
Alex couldn’t see Jollies’ fingers and chuckled. “Jollies, you have to look at your fingers for me to see them.”
Jollies laughed nervously and said, “Oh, okay.” She raised her hand in front of her eyes, holding up three fingers.
“Three fingers. Now can we get started? And fly slow. I’m not used to looking through your eyes.”
Jollies started to fly around the room, moving slower. “This is so weird,” Jollies admitted. “Are you in my head or something? Can you read my mind?”
“No, I’m just seeing through your eyes. It’s a psychic link, but I don’t think I can read your mind or anything like that.”
Chine’s thoughts broke through Alex’s. Not yet, but with practice, your psychic powers might be as strong as mine one day.
Alex did a double-take, switching back to her own eyes for a moment so she could see Chine. Wait, what? Are you saying I have psychic powers?
Didn’t Myrddin tell you? That’s why our connection is so strong. The spell Myrddin crafted for you was not merely new eyes. It’s a psychic link, which means you have psychic powers. The beginnings, at least. They need to be worked, like a
