I opened the door to see Ryland. He was freshly showered and his hair was still wet. He must have come straight from the gym. He was oozing sex appeal and it took all of my willpower not to throw myself at him then and there.
“What’s up?” I asked.
Ryland let himself in and took me in his arms. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you all day. I’m so happy that I have an excuse to spend every evening with you.” He growled and kissed me hard.
I melted into his kiss, parting my lips for his tongue. I moaned as he held me in his strong arms, never wanting him to let me go. I spoke when he broke off the kiss. “Me too.”
Ryland grinned. “Plans for tonight?”
I faltered. “Oh, watching a movie in the lounge.”
“Why? We could do that in here.” Ryland grinned mischievously.
“Yeah, but I promised Luke I would.”
Ryland frowned.
“You can come too,” I added with a little too much pep. My voice cracked when I realized sharing me with Luke was the last thing on his mind right now.
“Yeah, no thanks.” Ryland said. “But I guess I’ll have to, seeing how I’m in charge of babysitting you.” His expression darkened and his voice went flat. I watched his mask of indifference fall back over his face, a mere shadow of the man I had made love to last night.
“You don’t have to,” I fired back. “I don’t need to be babysat!” I slapped my hand over my mouth, immediately regretting my tone. “Sorry, Ryland. It’s just that this lock down has me under so much stress.”
Ryland nodded. “As much as it hurts me to say it, I think what you need most right now is Luke.”
I pulled away from him in shock. “What?”
Ryland held my hand to maintain our connection. “I mean, Luke can take you to see your parents.” He looked away. “And I think that’s what you need, more than anything else right now. I know you’re using me to forget, and I don’t mind but, you need to do what’s best for you.”
As much as it hurt me, it was the truth. I couldn’t think straight. I was like a caged animal and no one in the administration gave a damn about my emotional wellbeing. It wasn’t right to keep someone away from their family, even it if was for their supposed protection. I was eighteen, a legal adult, and I hated the power the Psychic Academy had over me.
“You’re right.” I edged up on my toes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Ryland,” I said. “You know, sometimes it’s like you actually can read my mind.”
Ryland’s mouth twitched with a smile. “I don’t need telepathy to know when someone I care about needs help.”
My heart burst with joy.
“I’m not going to say that I’m not jealous,” Ryland said. “But, I want to do what’s best for you right now.” He kissed me once more. “Let’s go convince Luke to teleport you out of here.”
Ryland and I met Luke in the student lounge. He looked up from the book he was reading and jerked back. It was obvious he hadn’t been expecting Ryland.
“Hey, Luke.” I sat down beside him. “Sorry I’m late. Ryland is in charge of my protection in the evening so he decided to tag along.”
Luke shot a glare at Ryland. “I don’t think you need him now, I’m here. You’re good.” The jealousy in his voice was undeniable. He tensed up.
Ryland raised his hands in mock surrender. “I don’t mean any harm, just doing as I’m told.”
I touched Luke’s knee so he’d look at me. “Actually, I had a better idea of what to do instead of watching a movie.”
“What’s that?” Luke asked. His eyes flicked back and forth between us suspiciously.
“Well,” I hesitated. “I was wondering if you could take me to see my parents.”
Luke jumped out of his seat. “What? With the teleportation ban? No way!”
“There isn’t a school-wide ban anymore. Just on her.” Ryland countered. “You’re free to go and come as you please.”
Luke glared at him. “Technically, yes. But if I’m caught taking her off campus, I’m screwed. In fact, we’d all be screwed.”
“Then let’s not get caught.” I shrugged nonchalantly.
“No. No way. There is no way I’m letting the two of you convince me to teleport anywhere.”
CHAPTER SIX
“I cant believe I let you two talk me into this.” Luke grumbled.
The campus was dark and quiet. The air was thick and heavy with humidity; not even the slightest breeze ruffled the trees. The moon was a silver sliver in the sky. It was a perfect summer night. A great night for sneaking out.
“Are you the kind of kid that always ran away in the middle of the night?” Luke asked.
I smiled innocently. “I may be good at climbing out of windows and down trees without making a sound, if that’s what you mean.”
Luke sighed. “My clean record, it’ll be ruined.”
“So let’s not get caught.” I touched his shoulder. “It’ll just be quick, like when you took me to see Ms. Blackwell.”
Luke shushed me and nodded towards Ryland.
“I already knew about that,” Ryland said lazily from behind us. “I can read your mind, remember?”
Luke gritted his teeth and walked faster. “Let’s just get this over with.”
We walked against the fence to the back of the property where the teleportation area was. Any teleporting off campus was strictly controlled and somehow the school would know if anyone tried to teleport in or out of a restricted zone. So much technology I didn’t understand. All I knew, was that this was the only place we could get out undetected.
Security cameras combed the perimeter, but there were a few blind spots along the fence that could be exploited by students wanting to sneak out in the middle of the night. Apparently, everyone knew about it but somehow it remained a secret from the faculty.
We stopped between two lights to catch our breath and finalize the plan.
“Ok, let’s go through this again,” Luke said.
“You take me to my parents house. I just want to see them for a second. I can’t even talk to them, because they’ve been brainwashed by the FBI to think I’m away at college. Just seeing them will make everything better.” My chest ached thinking about it. “And then we zip back. Easy peasy.”
“And I’ll stay out here to keep an eye out for any trouble.” Ryland added. “Just don’t be gone long; I don’t want to be eaten alive by mosquitoes.” He leaned against the fence and pushed his hands into his pockets.
I smiled at him and turned to Luke. “Ok, ready?”
Luke sighed. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” He adjusted the tracker on his waistband. They were mandatory for all students with teleportation powers, day or night. “I’m going to keep this on. It might be suspicious if it’s found near the teleportation area.” He grabbed my hand. “I want you to think of a place near your parents house that we can teleport to without attracting attention. If we go straight to their address and I’m tracked, it will be too obvious.”
I nodded and squeezed his hand. “Got it. The 7-11 a few blocks over. If anyone asks, you just had a craving for slush puppies.” I pictured the convenience store in my head.
Luke closed his eyes and we teleported with a pop of pressure.
A moment later we were behind the 7-11, just left of an overflowing dumpster. An overweight raccoon saw us and scrambled away as fast as its legs could carry it.
“Ugh,” I put my hand over my nose and mouth. The unpleasant feeling of teleporting paired with week-old hot dogs was not a good mix. I moved to fresh air, where Luke was waiting.
“Good to go?” He asked. His body was used to the feeling of teleportation, so it didn’t seem to bother his stomach, but it did drain his energy.
I swallowed hard and nodded. “Yep.”
We walked silently, with me leading the way and Luke a few steps behind for safety. Anticipation was brewing in my gut. It felt like a life time since I had seen my parents and it broke my heart to be away fr
om them.
I always thought there might be something different between parents and their adopted child. They had chose me to be in their lives. They had picked me out of a crowd and decided that I was their daughter. I was proud to call them my parents.
Tears stung my eyes and I shook my head. I just needed a glimpse of them, then I would be happy.
“You ok?” Luke caught up with me.
“Yeah,” I sniffed.
Luke’s expression softened and he touched my shoulder gently. Crickets chirped softly in the long grass near the sidewalk. “Hey, I didn’t mean to give you a hard time about coming out here,” He said. “I just don’t want to get into anymore shit.”
I chuckled softly. “I means a lot to me.”
“Bianca?”
I froze and looked up. It was Daniel. He was coming down the sidewalk with a 7-11 bag in his hand. “Daniel!”
Luke sucked in a breath beside me, but didn’t attempt to stop me when I ran to my friend.
“Oh my god, Daniel. What are you doing here?” I crashed into him, enveloping him into a hug that I never wanted to let go of.
“Milk.” Daniel laughed, holding up the bag. It was heavy with a carton of chocolate milk and a few bags of candy. Daniel had a sweet tooth when he was stressed. I hoped that I wasn’t the cause of his stress-induced midnight snacking. Daniel’s eyes slid past me and over to Luke. “What are you guys doing here? Is there a problem?”
I thanked the stars that my best friend was not only cool with the fact that I was psychic, but actually understood the world better than most normal people, because his father was psychic as well.
“I wanted to see my parents,” I said and then lowered my voice. “We’re not supposed to be out here.”
Daniel nodded. “Ah, breaking curfew as always, I see.” He shook his head and sighed. “What are we going to do with you?” We both laughed.
Luke cleared his throat. “If you don’t mind, it’s not just her neck that’s on the line right now. We should keep moving.” He gestured to the lights of the suburb. We were only about five minutes away.
I looked at Daniel. “Walk with us? For old time’s sake?”
I walked ahead with Daniel, getting him to tell me all the news from our friend group that I had missed this summer. Luke stayed behind, always alert for trouble. It seemed that not much had changed in our little slice of suburbia.
“So every time I see your parents they always tell me how proud they are of you for getting into college out of state, but every time they always forget the name.” Daniel cringed. “Psychic brainwashing is seriously weird. I hope it doesn’t do any long term damage.”
I sighed. “Once this is all over, I’m going to tell them the truth.”
We stopped outside my childhood home. My mother had planted some new flowers along the porch. The lawn and hedges were trimmed to perfection. The windows were dark. Everyone was asleep.
My heart ached in my chest as I stood before the modest house. Daniel stood beside me with his hands in his pockets. “So this is where you grew up?”
I nodded. “Yeah,” I said softly.
“I grew up just down the street,” Daniel added, but Luke ignored him.
“What now?” Luke asked.
I didn’t know. How was I supposed to see them this late. It was past midnight, my mother and father would have gone to bed hours ago. The street was eerily quiet. I noticed then that the crickets had stopped chirping.
“Something’s not right.” I whispered.
Luke nodded. “I feel it too.”
It was a strange pulse in my stomach. The entire world around us seemed to go silent. I immediately went on the defensive, feeling my powers uncoil and brace for an attack.
“Let’s keep walking away from the houses,” Luke whispered to me.
I nodded.
Daniel, who could not feel these psychic waves, had no idea what was going on. “Uh, should I just go home?”
“No, if we’re being followed we don’t need to put a marker on anyone’s home.” Luke shrugged nonchalantly and began walking down the street as if he hadn’t felt a thing.
I followed his lead, glancing around as I did. My hand brushed against Daniel’s and I held it without a thought. His skin was warm against mine. I gasped and tried to pull away, but Daniel held my hand back.
“Don’t worry, it’s alright,” He said. “Let’s act natural.” Daniel knew well the dangers of Rogue psychics, so there was no need to convince him to play along.
We walked around the block and then towards the old park where Daniel and I used to play as kids. It was also the site of my second Rogue psychic fight, which brought back a flood of terrified memories. The girl I was in June seemed so distant now. If only she could see what she had become.
The pulse echoed through the air again and Luke and I exchanged a look.
“It’s not safe here.” Luke leaned against the swing set, playing with the tracker on his waistband.
“Do you think someone from the academy followed us?” I asked.
“No. I don’t know this power. It’s too dark.” Luke frowned.
Daniel made a nervous sound and plopped down on the grass, fidgeting with his bag of candy.
I didn’t blame him for being scared, it was kind of cute actually. His down-to-earth, honest style was a nice change from all the cocky, testosterone-powered boys at the academy. “It’s ok.” I whispered, then turned my attention to Luke. “So what do we do?”
Luke was silent for a moment. “I was stupid to bring us out here,” He sighed. “We should teleport back.”
“But what about Daniel?”
Luke glanced at Daniel and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“We can’t leave him alone with Rogues, especially if they’re the ones who kidnapped him last time.”
“Well we can’t bring him to the academy either.” Luke argued.
“What then?”
“Hey guys?” Daniel said.
“He won’t be safe out here,” I pressed.
“Guys!” Daniel shouted.
“What?” Luke and I whirled around at the same time.
Daniel’s eyes were wide and round, he was pointing at something behind us. “I think we have bigger problems.” His voice trembled.
I turned and my eyes went to where Daniel was pointing. It was the Rogue from the warehouse. The big man who could manipulate steel as if it were paper. His telekinetic abilities were the strongest I had ever seen, even more so than Turner. Goosebumps sprung up all over my body.
“Good evening, children,” The Rogue said with a throaty chuckle. “I was wondering when I’d be seeing you again.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
How many times had I been terrorized by his voice in my dreams? I lost count. Now wasn’t a time for being scared. Now was a time to fight.
“Where are the others?” Luke demanded. He pushed off the metal swing set and braced for an attack.
“Just me, kiddo.” The man laughed and sneered at us. He crossed his arms over his wide chest, not moving a muscle. He was like a block of cement. “I’m just as surprised to see you.”
I inched closer to Luke. “What do we do?” I whispered.
“We need to get your little friend out of here so he doesn’t get hurt,” He replied.
“You grab him and teleport him back to my house. I’ll deal with this loser until you get back.” I gave him a look that showed no fear. I could handle this Rogue for a few minutes on my own. Teleportation was near-instant travel.
Luke hesitated.
“Do it,” I said. I didn’t wait for him to confirm; I raised my hands over my head, summoning my psychic energy and letting it flow through my spine. I ran fill tilt at the Rogue, screaming as loud as I could.
The Rogue grinned and lifted his hands. I felt his energy push against mine. He was strong, but he was slow without his teleporting girlfriend. We seemed to be equally matched.
I glanced behind me. Daniel and
Luke were gone. Good. Now it was time to let my power loose. I screamed, letting the power surge forward.
The Rogue faltered mid-step. “What the —”
I let my powers flow backwards and seized the chains from the swing set, grunting as I ripped them free and sent them flying towards my enemy. Shearing through metal was a talent taught to me by that traitor professor, and I’d ensure that I’d never forget it.
The Rogue pushed against the chains as they flew towards him. He tried to dodge but was unable to. The chains wrapped around his body like a metal snake, coiling around his chest and arms.
My hands trembled, holding the chains tightly in place.
“My, my, how your stills have improved.” The man wheezed as he took a breath.
“Shut up!” I hissed and pulled the chains tighter.
“Fiery little she-devil. You’re just like her.”
My power flickered but regained it’s hold on him. “Just like who?”
“Bianca!” Daniel’s father, Inspector Dolinsky, came running through the park with Luke right on his heels.
I gasped and my hold on the chains slipped.
The Rogue ripped the control away from me and escaped the chains. They fell to the ground with a clatter.
“Stop!” I shouted. I took off after him.
Luke teleported in front of the man and punched him hard in the face. The Rogue was sent to the ground. He was unconscious and his nose was bent to the side, bleeding profusely.
“Bianca, what the hell were you doing?”Mr. Dolinsky stopped beside me, grabbing my wrist. “What’s going on?”
“I, I was trying to stop him.” I stumbled over my words. Mr. Dolinsky looked down at me, frowning. His curly hair was messy and he was dressed in his gym clothes. His gray FBI t-shirt was stained with sweat. “Wait, how did you find me?” I glanced at Luke.
“Well, having someone teleport in my driveway just as I was getting home was the first indicator that something was amiss.” Mr. Dolinsky said flatly. “I thought the academy was on a lock down.”
“Only for me,” I said.
My best friend’s father raised his eyebrows.
Psychic Lies: An Urban Fantasy Academy Romance (Psychic Academy Book 2) Page 4
