Mona holds the phone to her ear again. “Hold on.”
She beckons Heidi and me over with a crooked finger. “I blood warded the studio.” She touches a fingertip to Heidi’s earlobe, where her piercing still seeps. She pulls her finger away with a spot of blood on the tip, crouches down, and traces an X pattern on the floor. Heidi watches her with wide eyes.
“You know what to do,” she says to me.
I do. Earlier, I strapped on a mineral belt and now I pull a small capsule out of it. I withdraw a sharp piece of obsidian out of it and prick my finger. I draw my own X next to Heidi’s. I put my vial away and offer her my non-bloodied hand. “Let’s go,” I say to her.
“Come back in an hour,” Mona says, and I nod. She puts the phone back to her ear, but she’s waiting for us to leave before she continues her conversation.
Heidi slips her hand in mine, and I reach within myself for my minerals and burn mica. The fire rises within me, I zero in on the coordinates I know so well, and I yank us out of there.
We emerge a millisecond later, and I inhale the warm scent of cedar. Heidi staggers a step, but I squeeze her hand and she quickly recovers her balance.
“Is that it?” she asks shakily. “I couldn’t even remember what teleportation feels like.”
Well, that’s no surprise to me. She’s only done it by herself once, and that was on accident. I know what Mona did to Heidi’s mind because she told me. She implanted a series of memories into Heidi’s brain to convince Heidi that she was a lifelong Jumper who’d only just recently forgotten how to do it. Mona gambled that the implanted “memories” would give Heidi the ability to access the innate skill we know she has, but it didn’t work. Mona will have to come clean sooner rather than later and tell Heidi the truth. I can’t imagine how that will go over. Or, more to the point, I don’t want to.
“There’s not much to it, is there?” I say mildly, keeping my dark thoughts to myself.
“I thought it would be more like rushing through a tunnel. That was…like stepping through a door blocked by a soap bubble.”
Interesting. “How so?” I ask.
She cocks her head. “Slippery, and just a little bit wet.” She takes her hand out of mine and spreads her fingertips out in front of herself. “But my skin’s dry.”
Pressing my lips together, I try to turn them upward into a smile. I’ve received – and given – an awful lot of training and I’ve never heard it described that way. I tuck that away in my mental file for later examination.
Heidi takes a couple tentative steps forward. “Where are we?” she asks.
“My home.”
“Really?”
I nod.
“It’s lovely. It smells warm but wild.”
“That’s raw cedar,” I say, crossing the small living area to run my fingers down one of the rough, fragrant walls. “This isn’t my registered address. It’s a place I built by myself…for myself.”
“Off the grid,” she says, her eyes lighting up. “I’ve heard of that.”
“It’s one of the perks of being a Jumper.”
She turns to face me. “Isn’t it illegal?”
I stare at her levelly. “Yes.”
Her voice grows hesitant. “Does Mona…?”
“No,” I say. “She doesn’t. No one does.”
Now her voice is a husky whisper. “I won’t tell.”
I put my hands in my pockets and rock back on my heels. “I know, or we wouldn’t be here.”
We stare at each other for a few heartbeats before I break the silence. “Do you cook?”
She opens her mouth, then sucks in her breath. “Um…I don’t know.” She wrinkles her brow, obviously searching for memories that aren’t there. How much of her former life did Mona wall off? “I don’t think so. Maybe? Did you need me to prepare something?”
“No,” I say. “I was just making conversation. Dinner’s on me.” I don’t want Heidi to start to panic. The last thing I want to deal with is a breach in the memory dam out here in the middle of nowhere. It’s Mona’s mess. When Heidi learns the truth it better be on Mona’s watch.
We stare at each other just a little bit too long. I wonder what she’s thinking. If she had any ability to read my mind, we’d be in real trouble here. She licks her lips and I have a sudden flashback to my vision, the one where she plunged a knife into my chest. I know now that that must have been an extraneous visionary detail that I should have discarded. But…even my extraneous visionary details usually have a basis in reality. What could it have meant?
“I’m going to pull something out of the icehouse. I’ll be right back.”
I burn a little mica and make the short leap away to where I store my cold goods. My home has no electricity, not even a generator. The sparks can attract Watcher attention and that’s the last thing I need. I keep a hut full of ice blocks encased in sawdust out back, where I store my food. I teleport directly inside it.
This area used to be called Saskatchewan. A good portion of the year, it’s buried in snow. During those times, teleporting really is the only way around the property. But at this time of year, when the snow has all melted and there’s a wild stillness to the place, I spend a lot of time walking the woods. It calms me. It’s as if the land is holding its breath, just waiting to exhale, knowing that when it does, it will blow the fragile balance of nature apart.
It’s pitch dark in the ice house, but I know my coordinates exactly. My sense of sight is not necessary to reach into the stacks of ice and pull out a fish and a healthy-sized bunch of carrots. I burn a little more mica and leap back into my snug cabin, where I hold up the food. “A few minutes over the fire and we’ll be all set.”
Heidi smiles one of her small, curvy smiles. “I’m glad you’re back. It was a little nerve-wracking, being all alone in here.”
I cock my head. “Why?”
“No doors.”
“Oh. Well, yeah. I don’t use them. I’m really sorry. I didn’t even think…”
Heidi holds up her hand “It’s okay. Just, if you need to go get anything else, can you take me with you?”
I flash her a tight smile. “I won’t need to leave again until we go back to Mona’s. But yes, if it comes up, I promise I won’t leave you behind.” I beckon to her. “Sit by the fire while I cook this up.”
She settles in a rocker next to the fireplace, and a slightly troubled look crosses her face. “It makes sense that you don’t have doors. But it makes me wonder...” She trails off and stares at the tiny flame I’ve made flicker to life.
“What?”
She tilts her head and speaks softly. “Why does Mona’s private quarters below her studio have doors then?”
I do a double take in surprise. “Mona’s not a Jumper.”
“Wait, what? Yes, she is.” Heidi sounds a little angry and a little scared.
I shake my head. “She’s not. She’s a Minder, and a Lumen scout. She can’t Jump.”
Heidi blinks rapidly. “I would know if she wasn’t a Jumper.”
I turn back to the fire and poke at it, feeding it more fuel, giving Heidi time to process her thoughts. Right about the time I expect her to, she speaks again. “How could she have trained me for my entire life and not been a Jumper herself?”
I think about how to answer her. To be honest, a lot of raw thoughts have crossed my mind since this whole situation cropped up and I have questions of my own that I haven’t confronted yet. “Mona will need to explain that to you when we get back. And she will.”
Heidi rocks slowly back and forth, her brow wrinkled. “Is there something else I’ve forgotten about that I should know?”
I lay the fish on a cooking platter and thrust it over the crackling fire. “Yes.”
“Can you tell me what it is?”
I stare at the flames. “No,” I finally say, turning to meet her eyes. “Remember? We just met.”
She holds my gaze for an uncomfortably long time, then sighs and taps her fingers on he
r knee. “Why did you bring me here? Why didn’t we just go to a restaurant?”
I turn back to the fish and flip it over. “Here, your safety is guaranteed.”
The rocker creaks as she stands up. “I didn’t realize I was in danger.”
Crap. I stay facing the fire because she’ll see the truth in my eyes if I look at her. From the corner of my eye, I can see her pacing around the doorless room. I jab at the fish irritably and turn the roasting carrots with more force than necessary.
“There’s a lot more going on than I’m aware of, isn’t there?”
I pull the fish off the fire and sigh. “Yeah.” I nod. “There is.”
She puckers one side of her mouth. “I knew it. Thank you for not lying to me about that at least.” She sits in the rocker again and raises her knees to her chest.
I get a couple of plates out of a sideboard and portion out fish and carrots onto each. Pulling a second wooden rocker over near the fire, I hand Heidi her plate and I settle in the rocker with my own.
She forks a mouthful of flaky white fish and her eyes nearly roll back in her head. “Oh my god, this is so good.”
“Fresh fish is the best,” I agree. “There’s a river close by. I set up a fish trap there whenever I’m here for longer than a day.”
“I don’t know if I’ve ever had anything so delicious.” A troubled look flashes across her face and I’m almost certain I know what’s happening with her thought process. “I can’t actually remember if I’ve ever had fish. I’m trying, but I honestly can’t recall eating anything. Ever.”
I chew a piece of carrot. It’s practically raw and it sticks in my throat a little when I swallow. “Some things happened. Bad things. Mona tried to protect you by walling off some memories. She has some fixing to do, and when we get back, I’m going to make sure that she does it.”
Heidi sets her plate down on the floor next to her rocker. “I don’t have much of an appetite any longer.” She folds her hands in her lap. “Is that why I can’t teleport anymore?”
I shake my head. I want to stare at my plate, but I make myself meet her eyes. “No.”
She stands up, walks to the center of the room, and turns back to me. “We didn’t just meet, did we?”
How do I answer that? We did just meet, but we’ve been through so much. Things she doesn’t know about and might not ever remember, depending on how deep Mona’s reinstall went. My silence appears to be answer enough.
“I’m ready to go back,” she says tightly. “I need to talk to Aunt Mona.”
Aunt Mona. I nod, still not trusting myself to speak. Mona isn’t Heidi’s aunt, and I know that. But she is mine.
Isn’t she?
I need to talk to Mona too.
22
Heidi
The invisible soap bubble pops, and I’m standing in the middle of Mona’s studio on an X drawn with a miniscule amount of my own blood. Gripping my hand, Marston stands beside me.
Across the room, Mona rockets to her feet. It appears she’s alone. I’m still coming to grips with the fact that she’s a Minder, not a Jumper. How could my own memories lead me so astray? I don’t trust Mona anymore, and unfortunately, I can’t rely on myself, either. There’s something wrong here, and even though I just met him, Marston is the most trustworthy person in the room, so I keep my lips pressed together and let him do the talking.
“Is Clarissa in your quarters belowground?” Marston asks.
An angry expression twists across Mona’s face. “No. She Jumped out of here just a few minutes after you did. Against my express instructions.”
“And your phone call? What came of that?”
She sighs. “There will be a reckoning. But I’m not allowing Darius on these premises until we find a solution to Heidi’s mental block.”
Now I step forward. “Aunt Mona, I know you don’t want to scare me, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that I’m in some sort of danger and that it’s bigger than me blowing out my power. I think you need to level with me and tell me what’s really going on before it gets even worse. I’m not good at flying blind. Please don’t make me.”
Mona glides across the room but stops short of us. She lowers her reading glasses so that she’s peering over the lenses with a solemn look. I feel a tickle in my brain, and now I know it’s true. She’s a Minder, and she’s in there. I thrust my hands out. “Stop!”
She staggers back a step as if I literally pushed her, but I didn’t touch her. I stare at my hands in wonder, then Marston emits a sudden grunt and bends at an abrupt angle at the waist. His arms dart out, and he makes contact with her, clasping Mona’s shoulders. He pushes his face until one eye is an inch from her reading glasses. Mona twists and struggles, but he’s got her in an iron grip. He’s staring at her, but I get the impression that he’s not really looking at her. I don’t know what’s going on, but I know not to interrupt.
Mona stops writhing, apparently realizing it’s useless. After about thirty seconds of awkward silence, Marston gasps and jerks backward. “Clarissa’s coming. Darius isn’t far behind.” He turns to me and grabs my hand. “Thank you.”
The blood rushes to my face and my heart pounds. The way Marston’s looking at me is not the way cousins should regard each other, even distant ones.
Mona backs hurriedly out of Marston’s reach. “What have I told you about visions? They don’t show the truth. Clarissa can’t get through the blood warding. No one—” Her voice cuts off and she slides sideways as a figure materializes where she was standing, pushing her out of the way.
“How?” Mona gasps.
Clarissa laughs mirthlessly. “You think I didn’t blood mark your floor yesterday when I brought Heidi here and I was lying there pretending to meditate? Your warding has no effect on me. Now, I’m in the inner circle and you” – she points at Mona – “are in quite a pickle.”
She reaches inside her indigo tunic and whips a necklace over her head.
“No!” Mona yells, but it’s too late. Clarissa jerks a cork stopper off a vial and dumps a stream of blood onto the floor at her feet, then leaps out of the way.
“Marston, do something!” Mona cries, but he rakes his hands down the sides of his face. “I can’t stop anything. It already happened, Mona. I saw it. But he’s only here to talk.”
“Fool!” Mona spits, but before she can say another word, the man who must be Darius materializes in the puddle of the blood spilled from Clarissa’s necklace.
He’s dressed all in black, from the knit cap covering his head to his shirt, trousers, and tall black boots. He whips off his cap, revealing a man-bun. He folds the cap in half and tucks it in the side of his boot, then glances at me with what could only be described as detached interest.
“Oh Mona,” he says, flicking his hand toward me. “This is the hill you plant your flag to die on?”
“I don’t like that language,” Marston says through gritted teeth, putting his body between Mona and Darius.
“Calm yourself, Marston,” Darius says, flicking a speck of something off his shirt. “It’s a figure of speech.”
“Well, choose a different one,” Marston says evenly.
Darius sidesteps around him like Marston is inconsequential. “You’re in enough trouble already. Don’t dig yourself any deeper with misplaced loyalty,” Darius says. He stops in front of me. “So,” he says, stroking his chin. “Have you figured this one out yet?”
I raise my head defiantly. I don’t have the first clue what’s going on, but I’m not going to speak to this man.
Apparently, it doesn’t matter if I talk or not because it’s Clarissa who responds to Darius’s question. “I think her Jump must have been an anomaly. I’ve heard of it happening before – only anecdotally of course – but she’ll make a fascinating research topic. I’d like to request a stay of execution so that I can bring her back to the Montana institute and study her.”
Darius pulls back his upper lip and Clarissa rushes on. “It can be a
temporary stay of execution.”
A stay of execution? What are they talking about? I haven’t done anything wrong. I take three rapid steps backward.
“I don’t care what you do with her,” Darius says scornfully. “She’s just a simple gray. I’m more worried about Mona’s role in this whole thing.”
Mona lets out a shocked, strangled sound. “Me?”
“Yes,” Darius says, whirling on her. “You and your nephew both have chipped away at my trust. Between his claims of The Sight and you ‘accidentally’ transporting this girl halfway around the world, I believe I’ve figured out your game. Once Marston weaseled his way into The Citadel and gained their trust, the next person you’d send there would be me.”
“You’re unhinged!” Mona cries. “No one can travel that far!”
“No one but her,” Darius says, pointing an accusatory finger at me. “But not under her own power. Under yours. What Minder witchcraft have you developed? And how far does it go?”
“Everything you’ve said is a fantasy, Darius,” Marston says. “We have a right to a full council, and I demand it.”
“Oh, you’ll get your council.” Darius growls as I sneak a glance toward the front door. These people are so used to teleporting, they might not even notice if I make a break for the exit. But something holds me back. My eyes lock on Marston’s back, held rigid as he stares down Darius. And I flash back to when he came out of what I guess must have been a vision. Why had he thanked me?
I don’t have time to consider that question or dash for the exit, though, because in the next second, both Darius and Mona are knocked to the ground as three large men, their oily skin naked but for loincloths, scabbards, and black hoods, materialize into the space they occupy. I jump backward. I know what these men are. I’ve heard them described in whispers, like a nightmare too frightening to speak about, even in the daytime. These men are Lumen assassins.
Clarissa screams. Mona and Darius both scramble up and Marston drops into a defensive crouch. Mona dodges to the left, then the right, but one of the assassins seems to be assigned to her because when she sprints toward the exit door, her flowing robes billowing behind her, he’s hot on her trail. Another assassin moves to block the door, so it’s no longer an option. The third assassin stations himself between Darius and Marston, parrying back and forth between the two of them, blocking either of them from going anywhere. Clarissa and I are the only ones uncovered, but Clarissa’s curled into a ball in the corner of the room, weeping.
Destination Unknown (Lumen Academy Book 1) Page 14
