Landlocked (Atlas Link Series Book 2) by Jessica Gunn Read Free Book Online

word.
    “Buzz,” Sophia supplied as she also stood.
    Chelsea nodded. “Yeah, there’s this buzz between us. It’s like a way of saying, ‘you’re like me and you’re on my side.’”
    Chelsea had never talked about this before. “Did you have that buzz with Helen?”
    Chelsea walked toward the bars of our cell, peering around the half-circle room for another way out. She even tugged on the bars, but they didn’t budge. “No.”
    “Why not?” I asked, although the answer seemed fairly simple. “Because she wasn’t also a super soldier?” Helen had Atlantean blood like Chelsea, but Helen only had one power, and her future-sight wasn’t very accurate.
    Chelsea shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe. Sophia?”
    Sophia had worked with Helen too, before she’d joined TAO. “In the year I spent studying with Helen, I remember feeling only a little of it. It became strongest when I met you.”
    Sophia joined Chelsea at the bars, and they tugged together. Still nothing, like all their strength had been zapped. It wasn’t like the time Chelsea’s powers were taken from her during the hijacking and I actually feared they might be gone for good.
    “It makes sense,” Dr. Hill said. “Think about it. If Atlantis engineered these soldiers to covertly carry out top-secret war missions, it would stand to reason the soldiers wouldn’t necessarily know each other from the get-go. Rather, if you ever ran into each other, you’d know by this feeling you both have. Otherwise, the buzz wouldn’t matter to the rest of the Atlantean population.”
    “So why are you getting this feeling around Germay’s people, but you didn’t with Helen?” I asked. “They can’t all be Atlantean super soldiers.” The odds of that were, well, not in their favor. At least not with the ferocity Thompson sought out Chelsea, alluding to the rarity of her kind.
    “They could be more directly tied to Atlantis than Helen,” Sophia said.
    “So, what now?” Dr. Hill asked.
    “We can’t leave Pike behind,” Chelsea said quickly. “Even if we could escape, even if our powers return, we have to find him first.”
    “I’m right here, so calm down.”
    Major Pike, flanked by two guards, entered the room. He stopped in front of our cell and sized us up. Why? Didn’t we just determine we probably couldn’t escape?
    “They want us to play a little game for them in exchange for a Link Piece we need and an easy-access Return Piece,” Pike said with indifferent eyes, like he were reciting lines to a boring car commercial instead of explaining our situation.
    “Game?” I asked. Games were my thing. Games I could do. Back on SeaSat5, I used to make 3D games for fun. “Sign me up. Let me play, and I’ll get us out of here in no time. What kind of game are we talking about?”
    Major Pike nodded. “As much as I’d hate to throw you to the wolves, I think you’re right. Only two of us have to play, so I’ll go opposite you. No matter how weird this is.”
    Weird, yes. What was the point of us playing some sort of game?
    I thought back to some of the last doctor’s appointments I’d attended. Sometimes they’d included little things to make check-ups more fun and high-tech. Like my eye doctor who had a 3D game to test eye reactions. Maybe this “game” was just a way for them to assess something else?
    “Sure,” I said to Pike. “Whatever it is, I’m ready.”
    “That will not work.” Silence blanketed us as Germay entered the space and stood behind Pike. “We have already selected the two candidates based on probable compatibility.”
    “What’s that mean?” I asked. What kind of gaming system required compatibility between two players? That seemed… limiting. Entirely stupid.
    Germay stood in front of me. “The Council has decided that, after speaking with your leader here, the young Atlantean soldier and the Lemurian boy have the connection required.”
    My chest constricted but I didn’t dare look at Chelsea. Any game