The Perfect Ten Boxed Set

by Dianna Love

  “Awesome! How’d you do that?”

  Neelah grinned, dark brown eyes shining at the compliment in his tone. “I have other gifts.”

  Tony had never been slow to understand when a girl was coming on to him. “I have no doubt, babe.” He straightened his shoulders even as his mind raced with conflicting thoughts. He wanted to encourage a possible ally, but she could just be jerking his chain so he kept her talking. “How’d you end up here?”

  “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, like Etoi, except that she’s glad to be here with Zilya. Etoi believes she will be treated as more once we return, if we ever see home again, but she’s wrong.”

  “I still don’t understand.” He shook his head. “Who were the TecKnati trying to catch if you were grabbed by accident?”

  “It appears that the TecKnati have devised this plan to prevent Zilya and the other future rulers from attending the BIRG Con or taking over their respective Houses afterwards.”

  “Taking over? Like becoming crowned or something?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know this crowning, but once a MystiK is presented at the BIRG Con, they’re acknowledged as leaders in training. They begin their official duties as they will assume the role of House leaders within ten years, or upon the sudden death of the existing leaders.”

  “So these TecKnati people grabbed you instead of the MystiKs they wanted. Yeah?”

  She gave a sad nod.

  “That sucks.”

  Her smile peeked out again. “You speak in the strangest way. I must go. But I’ll return if I can.”

  “So you don’t think I’m a TecKnati?”

  “Oh, I’m hoping you are one.”

  That made no sense. Did she want a TecKnati ally? “Don’t take this wrong, babe, because I’d love to have you come back to visit, but if ya think I’m your enemy, why you wanna be friends with me?”

  She stood to leave. “I’d befriend the devil himself to get out of this place.” She paused then, her face determined. “And I’m not the only one.”

  In the next instant she was gone and the walls buzzed again, but Tony felt better after the water and fruit. And Neelah’s information. He shifted the fruit bowl and flask near a wall so he could pace. The longer he walked in circles and criss-cross patterns the more frustrated he got at being stuck in this place when Mathias had no reason to lock him up.

  Or kill him.

  He slammed his fist into his palm over and over, ready for a target. How could everything he’d worked for at the Byzantine Institute disintegrate in the blink of an eye because of a computer?

  Until now, he’d believed his skill with computers would rule the day. That his natural abilities with technology would afford him control over his future and, most important, the chance to find his little bro.

  He’d never get Vinny back if Tony had to depend on other people. Gram had done all she could when Tony and Vinny got dropped in her lap as small boys. She’d held off child services as long as possible, but the day had come that the social worker put Gram in the position of losing one or both, forced to admit she couldn’t afford to care for two children.

  At eight years old, Tony had begged the don’t-give-a-damn social worker to take him and leave his little brother who’d only been four at the time.

  That’s when he was given his first lesson in logic.

  Younger children were easier to place, sort of like mutts were cuter as puppies.

  Tony squeezed his eyes shut, fighting off the misery of thinking about Vinny. Gram was too old to fight the authorities. She barely managed to keep her and Tony alive, even with him working every minute he wasn’t in school.

  The day she told him only wealthy and powerful people got to choose their futures, Tony chose his and studied nonstop.

  He’d jumped at the opportunity to be tested as a candidate for the Institute three months ago. Money and age didn’t matter to the Browns. If he made the grades, he got a full ride to a prestigious university. But the Top Ten Project meant going to MIT a year early if he won the competition.

  No. Not if, but when.

  That was a year closer to finding Vinny.

  First though he had to get out of this freakin’ prison hut...and this nightmare.

  If Neelah came back, he’d find out just how willing she was to go against Zilya and maybe Mathias. He should’ve asked her to go find out what was happening at the healing hut.

  Gabby could be dead from her reaction to the vine if that goofball healer in the skirt didn’t kill her. And Rayen had beaten one croggle, but that Callan couldn’t be trusted. He might spear Rayen and serve her up to the croggle.

  Even if Mathias has any doubts about Rayen and Gabby, he’s still convinced that I’m the devil’s spawn.

  He hoped Gabby and Rayen were having better luck.

  If they survived.

  He swiped a layer of sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

  Friction sparked in the air, alerting him to potential company again. Good. Just give me someone who isn’t a kid, or a girl. Someone he could pound out his frustration on if they refused to let him out.

  Stepping to the middle again, he faced the blurry change in the wall where everyone had entered so far. Fists raised, he shifted his body into a fighting stance.

  When the opening finally appeared, a tall guy stood there in a metallic jumpsuit Tony couldn’t decide was green or gray. Dark, short-cropped hair and a sick-looking tattoo on his exposed neck. Dude made a good candidate for the Scorpion gang from Tony’s old hood. The guy was shoved inside so hard he fell flat on his face at Tony’s feet.

  Looking over at the opening, Tony found Etoi standing half inside the hut with her spear propped on the ground.

  She sneered at the guy on the floor. “You two should get along fine, TeK scum.” When her gaze jumped up to Tony, she took in his raised fists and rolled her eyes then disappeared as the opening vanished.

  The guy on the ground let out a painful groan. The tat snakin’ around his neck was a cobra, which writhed as he moved. Tony was so gonna have to get one of them. Floor guy bent his elbows and pushed, tryin’ to get up.

  Ah, crap. Tony dropped his fists and hooked one of the guy’s arms, giving him a tug.

  Once Cobra guy was on his feet, he dusted his hands then wiped green off his face and stretched his jaw back and forth. “Not broken.”

  “Who are you?” Tony asked.

  “A scout of course. Phen. You’re?”

  “Tony.” That’s all this guy needs to know. “You’re a TecKnati?” Tony asked just to be clear.

  “Course I am.” Phen eyed Tony. “Where’d you come from?”

  “One of those pod things. Transender.”

  “What TecKnati brought you here?”

  Shoving his bottom lip up, Tony shook his head. “Don’t know any TecKnatis, except you. I traveled here with friends.”

  “Not possible.”

  “Why?”

  “MystiKs can’t travel in a transender without an escort.”

  Tony tossed his hands up in the air and walked away then swung around. “I’m not a MystiK or a TecKnati. Got a third choice?”

  “C’raydonian, but you couldn’t be one of those.”

  Based upon Phen’s dark tone, Tony didn’t want to be one of those either. “What’s going on between you guys and the MystiKs anyhow? You have a throw down?”

  Phen’s forehead wrinkled and he stared harder. “Your clothes and speech...I’ve never seen or heard anyone like you.”

  Making a chuffing noise, Tony gave him a wry smile. “Not surprised. There’s only one o’me.”

  “You say that as if it is a positive.”

  Tony caught the insult and considered poppin’ the mouth that uttered it, but he had a chance to find out how to get out of here if this guy played ‘escort’ in the pods. “Where’s home for you?”

  “TeK City Two.”

  “What planet, dude?”

  Phen’s eyebrows lift
ed in amusement. “Earth. What planet are you from...dude?”

  Earth. No way. Unless this was some military experiment gone bad. But that didn’t explain gettin’ pulled into a computer. Would Phen tell him anything if this was some whacked out military program? Nah.

  Back to Tony’s immediate problem–finding a way home. “Do those transenders return to their original destination?”

  Eyeing Tony with wary observation, Phen answered with a superior attitude. “Yes. They can only return to where they were initiated, but don’t get any foolish ideas about hijacking one. I told you. A MystiK can’t travel in one without an escort.”

  The way Tony saw it, this was outstandin’ news since neither he, Gabby nor Rayen were MystiKs and they hadn’t needed an escort the first time here. But he’d have to figure a way out of this prison hut first. “I’ll make you a deal.”

  Phen listened silently, his stance noncommittal.

  “Let’s work together to get outta here. In return, I only want to know how to call up and operate a transender.”

  Phen smiled at some inner thought. “I will escape and without your help. I’m not telling you anything about a transender.”

  “How can you be so sure you can–”

  The power that constantly hummed through the walls went silent.

  “See you on the next trip,” Phen whispered and put his palms together. He shoved them between the vertical reeds that made up the walls and pushed his hands wide, creating an opening he stepped through.

  Tony hesitated only a second then jammed his way out of the hut, too.

  Power hummed behind him the minute he stepped clear.

  His knees went weak.

  That was a close call. I coulda been a fried Italian.

  Taking in his surroundings, Tony caught sight of Phen who’d run thirty paces away and stopped, swinging his head as he looked for something. Two more steps past a wide thatch of inky black plants twice as tall as Tony that reminded him of bamboo, and Phen halted, his attention drawn to his right. A smile appeared on his profile, as if he’d hit the Jersey Lotto.

  When Phen paused, a small-sized hand appeared from behind the bamboo stalks and passed Phen something he shoved in his pants pocket. Then he nodded and snuck off down a path cleared through the trees dotting the village.

  Tony followed, tryin’ to keep his footsteps soft. He slowed next to the stand of bamboo and leaned forward to see who was there. No one.

  When he caught up to Phen, the scout had reached the fog wall surrounding the village.

  The guy was running straight for the deadly haze.

  Tony called out, “Stop! The fog’ll kill ya!”

  Phen spared a quick glance over his shoulder but didn’t slow down, rushing headlong into the puke-colored mist.

  Tony tensed, ready for the blood-curdling scream...that never came. What happened?

  Crap. He couldn’t lose the TecKnati.

  Besides Rayen had stepped in to keep the crazies from executing Tony and had saved the three of them from a killer plant. And Gabby had tried to help Tony when the vine first attacked him. This was Tony’s chance to do something to help them get out of here.

  He ran five strides and reached the fog where he realized how Phen had gotten through.

  The angle of Tony’s approach hadn’t allowed him to see that someone–probably the person who helped Phen escape–had cleared a narrow path through the protective wall.

  And that tunnel was squeezing closed.

  No time to lose.

  Plunging ahead, Tony lifted his St. C medal and kissed it. “Please don’t let me die now.” Then added, “Not ‘til I get laid...at least once.”

  CHAPTER 25

  Gabby realized her mistake too late. She stared at the little girl Rayen had risked her life to protect from a croggle. “Can’t I just, like, hand you stuff when you need it, Jaxxson?”

  He paused from what appeared to be checking the pulse of the little girl whose skin had turned too bright a pink. “I need to get her blood pressure calmed down. She’s having a reaction to the Sphere. You said you wanted to help.”

  But she hadn’t thought that would entail putting her hands on the child. And Gabby had also thought she’d have a chance to search for a way out of the village if she tagged along with Jaxxson.

  Not going to happen from inside this dome thing surrounding all three of them.

  Jaxxson had walked her through a canopied area where two girls who looked about twelve were making aqua-blue orbs appear and disappear for a group of very young children who ooohhed and awwwed. They were inside a woven pavilion type of enclosure. Sort of like a tent only in ratty shape and held together with vines and patched with leaves, but since the leaves were all different colors it had a kaleidoscope look to it. Different but cool.

  Jaxxson had walked over to a luminous white bubble that hovered on one side of the kiddie area. The bubble looked about the size of a small bedroom. He’d placed his hands on the outside of the dome and murmured words until the opal glow shimmered in front of him and a section opened up that allowed him to enter without bending over.

  He had told Gabby to follow him.

  She hadn’t seen much choice.

  The wall returned to its original form as soon as she’d stepped inside and thankfully found the floor to be flat. She’d tentatively pressed a finger against the dome wall. Her finger sank into the strange surface then stopped as if hitting a solid material.

  That had curtailed any hope of her wandering around and snooping for exit points in the village.

  “Gabby?” Jaxxson drew her attention back to the child who was lying on a pillowy cloud-type of bed that hovered about three feet off the floor.

  She backed up a step. “You know why I don’t want to put my hands on her.”

  The little girl raised a timid, silver-eyed gaze to Gabby. Her tiny bottom lip quivered.

  Turning her guilt-ridden anxiety on Jaxxson, Gabby snapped, “Just great. Look what you made me do.”

  “Nobody’s making you do anything. Refusing to offer comfort is your choice.”

  Now she sounded like an ogre. She inhaled a breath and flexed her fingers, determined to keep the unspoken truce intact between her and Jaxxson, who stared up at her from where he knelt beside the girl. One of his hands had moved from the child’s wrist to above her elbow.

  Gabby stepped back to the bed and squatted down beside Jaxxson. She’d never been able to walk away from a kid in need, not after spending her life being ignored by everyone around her.

  “If you can tell me how to shield thoughts from my mind...I’ll try,” she implored Jaxxson with a soft voice to keep from upsetting the little girl.

  Maybe a child’s thoughts wouldn’t be as abrasive as an adult’s. Thoughts that could be so negative or hateful they had sent Gabby to her knees in the past, leaving her emotionally shredded.

  Jaxxson answered her in an equally calming voice without looking at her. “Your body is still healing from the vine infection, but the weave I placed on your wrist will also prevent anyone’s thoughts you don’t want to hear from impacting you. Unless the other person is so powerful a telepath that they could force their thoughts on you. I doubt Be’tallia is such a threat.”

  Gabby exhaled a breath, still trying to accept everything in this place. The twinkle in his eyes made it easy for her to joke. “Oh. So I’m wearing the equivalent of a Batman wristwatch for telepaths, huh?”

  He chuckled and said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Never mind. But why didn’t you tell me about this wristband sooner?” Gabby crabbed at him.

  “Because you must learn to trust touch, even when you lack external protection. Place your hand on Be’tallia’s forehead to soothe her.” He returned to treating the child, moving his palms to cover the girl’s abdomen while smiling at her.

  Gabby lifted her hand and slowly extended it, fingers trembling.

  Be’tallia’s gaze jumped from Jaxxson to Gabby
, watching with huge silver-gray eyes, several shades darker than the party dress she wore.

  Breathing hard, Gabby finally lowered her hand to the child’s forehead and braced herself.

  No thoughts came crashing into her mind.

  Jaxxson hadn’t lied. Call her paranoid, but she’d been tricked in the past and hadn’t liked it one bit.

  But here she was, touching another person who actually smiled at her.

  Gabby started laughing, not a loud sound but a private little hot-dang one.

  Jaxxson gave her a way-to-go glance then returned to whatever he was doing to heal the little girl.

  Giddy with having accomplished something she’d been denied for so many years, Gabby used her other hand to hold the child’s miniature fingers. “You have pretty hands and long fingers. Bet you could play a piano.”

  Be’tallia’s gaze moved from Gabby to Jaxxson who seemed intent on something then chuckled. His beautiful brown eyes twinkled at the child who nodded, lips curling into a half-smile.

  Gabby felt like an outsider. Again. But were those two really communicating telepathically? “Did you just talk to her mind-to-mind?”

  “Yes. Why?” He seemed perplexed by her tone.

  Refusing to sound like the terminally uninformed, she just said, “Isn’t that rude to do with me sitting here?”

  “No. It’s no different than if you were to ask for a word in private with me.”

  How could she argue with that? “Wouldn’t it be nicer for the three of us to talk?”

  Jaxxson kept working some sort of magic with his long-fingered hands, moving them up to the child’s neck as he spoke. “Be’tallia isn’t ready to talk. Her throat’s still raw from screaming when they kidnapped her. Speak to her with your mind if you want to communicate with her. It will help her relax around you.”

  Oh. Dang. Gabby flushed with embarrassment over not realizing the little girl might be in worse shape than just having a skin reaction. Poor thing had been ripped from everything she knew.

  But talk to her mind to mind? Be serious. “I don’t know...I, uh, that wouldn’t be a good idea.”

  “Why not?”