A map? She studied it again and saw he was right. “A map of what? And to where?”
They both straightened.
“The Codex,” he said.
“I’ll start translating the Rahl text. See if that gives us more information.”
He nodded. “We need to match this to locations here in Haxx and orient the map.”
But the more she looked at it, the more foreign it looked. “It’s just lines and boxes.”
Then the Sync died, leaving them in darkness.
“Fuck!” He slammed his foot against the wall.
“Once we get out of here, we’ll charge it up. The translation should help us decode the map,” she said.
“I know.”
Silence fell again. She swiped an arm across her face. Perspiration gathered on her forehead. It was starting to get a little warm. “The map could be a trap, as well.”
“Why? For what purpose?” He kicked the wall again. “I just want the Codex back. I want the damn planet back to normal.”
She didn’t need to scan him to know he was angry. She heard the fury and pain twisted in his voice.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
With her night vision, she saw him hunch his shoulders.Right. “The planet will recover. But it’ll take time.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Even if my sensors didn’t tell me something was wrong, I can hear it in your voice.”
He cursed under his breath. “I never pegged you for a talker.”
Xenia ran her tongue over her teeth. “I’m not. I’m just trying to be nice to you.”
He sighed. “No questions, okay?”
“Okay.” She wasn’t very good at giving comfort, but she wanted to do something to soothe the ragged pain in him. She just didn’t know how.
He lifted a hand, rubbing at his shoulder.
“Your shoulder’s bothering you?” she asked.
“Knocked it in the fall. It’s nothing.”
“You really do need to have something done about it.”
“The regen therapy is helping…slowly.”
She sucked in a deep breath and slid closer to him. “Lean forward, I’ll rub it for you.”
“It’s fine?—”
“Axton, don’t let it get worse. I’ll massage it for you.”
