The Crucible: Leap of Faith by Odette C. Bell Read Free Book Online Page A

kept my hands extended towards
the wall, those channels of bright yellow-gold light still powering
up and down my forearms. The light didn’t give me the ability to
move objects; it accentuated a gift that was already there and
allowed me to direct it.
    I held onto the wall until the
emergency systems on the deck sprang into place, and shielding lit
up across the wall, reinforcing the hull.
    Shields even snapped in place
around me. I could have held them at bay if I’d chosen
to.
    I didn’t. I let my hands drop, a
shimmering blue emergency force field encasing my whole body from
the tips of my toes to the top of my head.
    Soon the fire suppression system
kicked into gear and the oxygen was sucked from the
room.
    Then nothing but calm.
    There was a slight ringing in my
ears, but that wasn’t from the explosion – it was from using my
abilities.
    I took another step back, and my
protective shields flickered off.
    I stood there listening to the
creaking hull and floor, gaze slipping towards the cracks in the
walls, shimmering structural shields in place behind
them.
    I took another step
back.
    What the hell had just
happened?
    With a jerked movement, I brought
my hands up and stared at them.
    Had that… had that been me? Had my
abilities gotten out of hand again without me even
noticing?
    With desperate eyes I searched my
hands, finally letting my implants switch off, that gold-yellow hue
disappearing instantly from under my skin.
    With my breath stuck in my chest,
I searched my body for any sign I could have caused that
accident.
    Then I took a step to the left.
The section of hull I had been standing in front of had no windows.
But as I walked several meters down the hall, I reached a section
that did.
    I gazed into the military docking
ring. I watched a ship tumbling in space, a massive hole ripped out
of its side.
    There was no way I could have done
that. Not that I couldn’t muster the power – but because it was too
far away.
    I kept walking along the hallway,
staring as a massive imperial battle-cruiser locked the tumbling
ship in a traction beam.
    That’s when I heard someone moving
behind me. Initially I thought it was a first response team. Then I
heard ragged breath and heavy footfall.
    I turned to see somebody
gasp.
    Lieutenant Commander
Shepherd.
    … I’d forgotten all about him.
He’d been behind me in the corridor.
    “Oh my god, you’re alive,” he said
as he took a staggering step forward and then crumpled. His legs
jerked out from underneath him, and he fell to one knee, a painful
jolt passing through his body.
    I punched a hand out towards
him.
    A groan tore from his lips and he
fell down onto one hand, his back buckling. “You’re alive,” he
repeated. “Christ, I thought for sure you’d be dead.”
    I reached him and pushed down to
both knees, grabbing his shoulder to stabilize him.
    Instantly he winced.
    That’s when I saw the blood
trickling quickly from the back of his head.
    He’d clearly injured his back,
too, as he couldn’t hold himself steady.
    Carefully I supported his
shoulders and guided him down to the floor.
    “I’m fine,” he protested. “I need
to… I need to go and check on my ship.”
    Briefly I tore my
gaze from him and angled my head towards the windows. I realized
that the ship now locked in the Alliance battle-cruiser Ra’xon’s traction beam
was the Godspeed.
    “I have to check on my crew,” he
gasped as he tried to push past me.
    I wouldn’t let him
move.
    It wasn’t hard. I didn’t have to
call on my ability to lock him in place – he barely had the
strength to fight against my hand as I pressed it into his
shoulder. “You’re injured, and you will injure yourself further if
you continue to move. A first response team will be on their
way.”
    As if to confirm that, the
intercom crackled. “Emergency personnel to converge on deck 46
A.”
    The Lieutenant Commander twitched
again, grabbing a hand onto my arm as he tried to push it off.