Hidden Worlds

by Kristie Cook

  His cousin was wrong, but Ty couldn’t and wouldn’t clarify things for him. She had you.

  Yes, she did. And she still does.

  Ty didn’t have to press hard into Sem’s mind to read between the lines. Ty looked at him, but Sem’s eyes were still closed.

  Kyr is my responsibility, Sem, he thought. She’s under my protection, and that can’t be changed. You don’t need to know why I’ve been away. Just because I wasn’t here in person doesn’t mean I was uninformed of her experiences here.

  Sem stewed in silence for a while. Ty waited for his cousin to get himself under control. While he’d been on Earth, Sem had allowed a number of negative emotions to influence him. He’d have a difficult return to Alametria as a result, but there was little to be done about it now.

  Have you learned to read Shelvak minds yet? Sem thought.

  Ty frowned over the change in subject. Again, the answer should be clear. If he could read Shelvak minds, they wouldn’t be in this situation. His cousin knew that and appeared to be baiting him.

  Not wanting to get into an argument, he just thought, No.

  The fact was, he wasn’t sure why he couldn’t read Shelvak minds. His abilities allowed him to read the thoughts of nearly all forms of intelligent life. His only theory so far was that Shelvak minds weren’t developed enough for him to pick up. Their society was barbaric and uncivilized, so the theory wasn’t unsound.

  Too bad, Sem thought. Might have saved us all some trouble if you had.

  Ty’s jaw tightened as Sem allowed a memory of Kyr writhing in pain to flash through his mind. He also sensed that Sem felt he would have done a better job of protecting Kyr.

  Part of him wondered if that was true.

  Do you have any theories about what kept us from transitioning? Sem thought.

  No. Since the Shelvaks arrived just after the transition failed, they must have had something to do with it. But until we can try and connect again with the ship, we have no way of knowing exactly what happened.

  Does this plane have the ability to send interstellar communications?

  No. It can only receive. Something about FAA monitoring. We’ll have to wait until we reach our destination and try reaching the ship from there.

  Sem’s thoughts quieted as he processed this. Ty broke their connection. He could close off thoughts as easily as he could tune into them, which was a blessing. It wasn’t as if he wanted thousands of random thoughts running through his mind all the time.

  He looked down at Kyr when she made a soft noise. Her eyes moved rapidly beneath her eyelids. She issued a strangled sound from the back of her throat. Her emotions filtered through to him.

  She was terrified.

  Normally, he could have used his abilities to calm her. It had always been a simple thing to influence her emotions due to their connection. The strange block had been prohibiting that, however.

  She whimpered and arched her back. He knew she was in the throes of a nightmare.

  His brows drew together. Maybe she’d be more susceptible to his emotional influence while her consciousness was subdued. He supposed it was worth exploring.

  After making sure Sem still had his eyes closed and the flight attendant wasn’t anywhere nearby, Ty reached over and touched the side of Kyr’s face. The urgent fluttering of her eyelids instantly eased. He closed his eyes and touched his forehead to hers. Skin to skin contact helped strengthen the connection.

  It was working. He felt her fear seep into him. Accepting it, he sent her soothing thoughts and images in fear’s place.

  He started to break the connection. Another jolt of fear went through her. He got a brief glimpse of the Shelvaks landing beside her and Avana on the stairs in the dorm. She trembled. This wasn’t going to work if he couldn’t overcome her recent memories.

  An idea occurred to him. Considering his options, he chose a memory of the two of them together … one that was pleasant and, he hoped, strong enough to take the place of the one that haunted her.

  Her breathing evened out. When he opened his eyes, he saw the slightest smile on her lips.

  His gaze remained on her lips for longer than they should have. A faint burn started in his forearms. He lowered his hand from her cheek and turned back around in his seat.

  Sem stared back at him. What the hell was that? he thought.

  Issuing a mental sigh, Ty explained, She was having a nightmare. Since she’s sleeping, I was able to use my abilities to help her.

  He felt his cousin’s anger. Even if he hadn’t been able to read Sem’s thoughts, he would have known how his cousin felt about Kyr. It was something that would likely pose a problem when they returned to Alametria.

  She wouldn’t be having nightmares right now if it wasn’t for you, Sem accused.

  That was unfounded, Ty knew. It wasn’t as though he had ordered the Shelvaks to travel to Earth to hunt down and torment Kyr.

  Yet he didn’t argue with his cousin. The truth was, he’d had the same thought himself. So far, he’d done a poor job of protecting her. He couldn’t help but wonder if she’d be better off with someone else doing the job.

  Unfortunately for her, she didn’t have a choice.

  Chapter 12

  Kyra gradually surfaced from sleep when the pilot announced their descent to land. She turned her head slightly and snuggled closer to the warm fabric against her cheek. It wasn’t a soft surface, but the scent was familiar, enticing, and comforting, like a spiced cake baking in the oven. It was her favorite scent in the universe.

  Her eyelids slowly parted. She found herself staring into a pair of beautiful silver eyes …

  … and fell right into a memory.

  She was in a vehicle. It was similar to Earth’s cars, but enhanced with more advanced technology. Rain battered the windshield. Her forehead hurt. She’d hydroplaned, she remembered.

  A group of Shelvaks advanced on the vehicle. At the time, she hadn’t remembered what they were. They had seemed—rightly so—like creatures out of a nightmare.

  Just when she thought she would surely die at their hands, her vehicle’s door opened. Ty reached in and pulled her out, throwing her a good distance from the vehicle.

  “Stay,” he ordered.

  He then proceeded to make short work out of defeating seven of the Shelvaks. The eighth one, however, grabbed her. Even dangling from the Shelvak’s grip, she’d known Ty would save her just from the look in his silver eyes…

  With a quick blip, like a film reel skipping a few frames, her mind jumped to another memory.

  Ty held her by her shoulders, but she didn’t recognize him. She tried to escape his grasp, not understanding who he was or why he had saved her, but he wouldn’t let her go.

  “Who are you?” she asked in a shaky voice.

  He sighed. “We always go through this, Kyr. I fear we don’t have enough time for the long version right now.”

  Her mind flooded with questions. He wasn’t helping her understand. If anything, he was freaking her out more.

  “You’re just going to have to trust me for a moment,” he said.

  Before she could argue, he reached behind her head, cupped her neck, and bent down to kiss her …

  The memory faded. Kyra blinked rapidly as her mind returned to the present. Ty watched her with a crease between his eyes.

  “What just happened?” he asked in a quiet voice.

  “I—I’m not sure,” she said. “I might have just remembered something about the past.”

  “Do you mean you dreamed about the past?” he asked carefully.

  She shook her head. “No. Just now, when I …” she trailed off. There was no way to say it without sounding weird. Sighing, she finished, “When I smelled you as I woke up.”

  The plane touched down, but Ty’s gaze never left her face. “Tell me what you remembered.”

  “Well, I was in this vehicle and it was raining. I was upset about something. I hydroplaned and was attacked by Shelvaks. You were there and
saved me.”

  Now, his face reflected interest. “That was, indeed, a memory. One from your most recent lesson prior to coming to Earth. It’s possible the memory was stimulated by your sense of smell. The mind often ties memories into each of our senses. Was that all you remembered?”

  Her face flushed as she revisited the last memory. Try as she might, she couldn’t recall more than him leaning in to kiss her. Had that really happened? Or was it a product of her overactive imagination?

  She decided that she had to know, her embarrassment be damned. Since she saw Sem watching them from across the aisle, she thought, Have we ever kissed?

  Ty’s eyebrows lifted slightly. It was the only sign he’d heard the thought.

  “Time to go,” Sem said, unbuckling his seatbelt and standing up. He stretched in the aisle. “Damn, it feels good to get out of that seat.”

  Kyra held Ty’s gaze for a prolonged moment, hoping he’d give her some sign that they’d either kissed or hadn’t. But he unbuckled his seatbelt and rose, leaving her without an answer. Knowing the time for conversation had passed, she unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed into the aisle after him. He walked in front of her and Sem followed close behind her.

  She wanted to thank the flight crew, but Ty tugged her out the door and down the stairs before she could. Irritated, she tried to pull away from him.

  “There’s such a thing as manners, Ty,” she snapped. “The flight crew helped us out when we needed it. Why can’t I thank them?”

  “Because you are Ma’jah Kyr.”

  “So I’m a rude and ungrateful bitch?”

  He stopped walking when they reached the bottom of the stairs. Catching her gaze, he said, “Historically, yes.”

  Sem’s laughter rang out as he stepped off the stairs. Kyra looked between the two guys and wanted to punch both of them. Ty’s response hurt her more than she wanted to admit, so she latched onto her anger.

  “Let go of me, Dem-Shyr TaeDane,” she ordered in a voice that carried. “Now.”

  He didn’t seem to know how to react. His mouth opened, but he didn’t speak. She felt his grip tighten on her arm and then release.

  Interesting, she mused. And good to know.

  Turning on her heel, she marched up the stairs. She tried to ignore the wide-eyed looks she was getting from the pilot and flight attendant as she approached. She stopped when she was a few steps from the top. If nothing else, Ty’s overly cautious attitude had taught her not to get too close to anyone who could possibly harm her.

  “Forgive me for exiting so quickly,” she said, looking between them. “I neglected to thank you for your service.”

  Both of them bowed. “It was our honor, Ma’jah,” the pilot said.

  “Anything you need, Ma’jah,” echoed the flight attendant.

  Since they remained in deep bows and she didn’t know what else to say, she turned back around and walked back down the stairs. Every moment of that had felt awkward, but she was glad she did it.

  Rude and ungrateful bitch? She didn’t think so.

  She kept her chin held high and tried to march past Ty, but he took her arm in a way that told her she wouldn’t be escaping him this time. Cutting her losses, she didn’t fight him.

  She still wanted to punch him, though.

  The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced the whole “about to be a kiss” scene in her head had been a misguided daydream on her part. She’d woken up practically drooling on the guy, and he was undeniably hot. Her attraction had been immediate, so it made sense that when her libido kicked in, it bee-lined right into a fantasy involving him. There was no way a guy as unemotional and single-minded as Ty was would ever get intimately involved with her. She couldn’t imagine him intimately involved with anyone.

  She was distracted from her thoughts as they walked into the airport. “Where are we?” she asked.

  “Orlando,” Sem said.

  “Really? Can we go to Disney World or Universal Studios?”

  “No,” Ty said.

  She rolled her eyes. The guy absolutely couldn’t take a joke. Of course they weren’t going to take time to visit the theme parks. Still, it was a little disappointing. She’d always wanted to visit Orlando. Now she was there and wouldn’t be able to enjoy it.

  They made their way to the terminal, taking a nearly empty tram from the gates and heading towards baggage claim. She didn’t know why, since they had no luggage. When they reached the bottom of a group of escalators, she understood.

  A man dressed all in black stood among a handful of drivers, carrying a whiteboard reading, “Al Ametria.”

  “Subtle,” she murmured to Sem, who grinned.

  Ty walked right up the driver, who dipped his head in a non-obvious bow. He looked as though he was about to say something, but then his gaze moved to Kyra. His mouth paused in mid-syllable.

  She watched him for a couple of seconds, certain he was about to introduce himself. The longer he remained frozen, the more uncomfortable she became. A couple of the drivers standing near them even looked over in curiosity. She wondered if they thought she was a celebrity or something.

  Thankfully, Ty did his thing and stepped between them, breaking the driver’s eye contact. Ty didn’t move for a long moment, staring down at the man in silence.

  Stammering out a heavily-accented apology, the driver turned to lead the way to their transportation. Kyra ignored the stares of the other drivers as they walked away. Part of her wished she had a pair of sunglasses to throw on just to keep them guessing.

  “Is it always going to be like this?” she asked Sem out of the corner of her mouth.

  “If I say no, would that make you feel better?” he replied.

  “I probably wouldn’t believe you.”

  He winked at her. “Look how much you’ve learned in only a few short hours.”

  Not amused, she made a face at him. He laughed. Ty glanced between the two of them. Kyra thought he might be trying to give them some sort of silent warning to be quiet. That just made her want to run around the terminal, flailing her arms and yelling, “Look at me! Look at me! I’m the Ascendant!”

  Morbid curiosity had her wondering how many people would even notice.

  Ty made a sound beside her. She looked up at him in surprise. Had that been …?

  Yes, it had, she realized with astonishment. One side of his mouth was ever-so-slightly curved up. He had been amused over her thought.

  Before she could even take in a breath to say something about it, his face went instantly back to the mask. She suspected that he’d deny the almost-smile until his dying day.

  She didn’t have time to think more about it. They had walked outside and were headed towards another parking garage. Apprehensive about the amount of darkness surrounding them, she edged closer to Ty. By the time they reached the first row of vehicles in the garage, she had all but encircled his waist with her arm. Thankfully, he didn’t say anything about it.

  They reached a nondescript black sedan before she had a chance to totally lose it. Sem stepped beside her as Ty moved a couple of feet away to talk to the driver. A set of keys was exchanged. Kyra strained to hear what was said, but their voices were too low.

  After another minute, the driver bowed and left. Ty pulled the small scanner out of his pocket and walked along the car with it. She supposed he was scanning for devices that shouldn’t be there.

  Apparently, the scan was clear, as Ty walked over to her and guided her to the front passenger seat. She considered telling him that he could just ask her to walk over to him, but decided that there was something gentlemanly about the fact that he escorted her everywhere. Plus, she was too tired to take issue just then.

  They all climbed in and buckled up. Ty pulled the car out of the slot and wound through the lot to the exit. A small box on the windshield reading “Sunpass” allowed them to exit the lot without paying. She guessed it was a pre-paid toll device. It wasn’t long before they were on a highway headed some
where only Ty knew.

  Exhaustion weighed on her as they rode in silence. Her fitful sleep on the plane hadn’t done much to dent her weariness. She wondered how it was possible that dawn could still be hours away. It felt as though they’d spent an eternity in darkness.

  They were hundreds of miles from her home now. Was it possible the Shelvaks could track them even if they didn’t have tracker-things on their clothes? That seemed completely impossible to her. Of course, she didn’t know if the Shelvaks could read minds or somehow tap into their personal energy signatures or any other kind of sci-fi crap like that. She didn’t know much of anything at all, she realized.

  Just then, she wasn’t really sure she was ready to learn it.

  Glancing at Ty, she asked, “Do you suppose we’re safe from the Shelvaks here?”

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  That was the last thing she’d wanted to hear.

  Chapter 13

  They drove for so long that Kyra began to wonder whether they’d flown into the most logical airport. She soon lost her enthusiasm over being in a new city and settled back in her seat to dwell in her thoughts. Time brought her no more answers, however, and Ty didn’t seem prone to talk. Sem was quiet and brooding, so she didn’t expect any entertainment from him. She tried to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes, the recently-unearthed memory of her car crash resurfaced.

  The good news was that it was closer to dawn by the time they reached their destination. She had no idea where they were. The last sign she’d seen before they left civilization read, “Lake County.” For the past thirty miles, they’d stuck to sparsely-populated back-roads. She didn’t think she’d seen another house for the past five.

  When they turned off the road and onto a bumpy dirt path, Kyra gave Ty a dubious look. Where were they going? A cabin in the woods?

  Holy crap … like that thought wasn’t scary as hell.

  “It’s a house,” he said. “A secure house.”

  She moistened her lips and nodded, straining to see more through the trees on either side of the dirt road. Out here, the only light came from the car’s headlights. Even the streetlights from the road had dimmed completely from view. Every shadow looked like a threat.