by Dianna Love
Rayen’s gaze swept over everyone, her face closed off as she kept her thoughts to herself while matching Callan step for step.
Crossing the open area to reach the Governing chamber, Callan returned polite smiles to all the excited faces turning toward him...all but one.
Neelah rarely had a smile for anyone these days, every glare blaming the Warrior House and Governing House for pulling her away from her betrothed. Callan might feel some sympathy for the girl if she’d direct her anger at the TecKnati, not other MystiKs who suffered alongside her. Neelah was not the first, nor probably the last to leave a betrothed behind.
Entering the Governing Chamber, Callan crossed the room to one of the carved chairs and sat down, weary from using so much energy to heal.
He waited to see if Rayen would take the other one, but she’d paused just inside the door, thumbs hooked in the top of her blue pants.
Did she have to draw his attention to her narrow waist like that? “Have a seat.”
“I’ll stand.”
So be it. Best way to put himself back on firm footing with her was by not treating her as a guest. That might also help toss a wet rag on this strange awareness of her that kept his thoughts in turmoil.
Rayen took one look around and moved further inside the doorway then crossed her arms. “Where’s V’ru and what makes him so special?”
Callan wanted to slap himself. He’d forgotten to tell V’ru to meet him. Holding up his hand in a sign for Rayen to wait, he sent a brief telepathic call to V’ru, asking him to join Callan to interrogate a prisoner.
Finally, he answered, “He’s a G’ortian, a rare descendant of the Records House. He’s on the way.”
“Did you just call him telepathically?”
“Yes.”
Even motionless, Rayen emitted a silent power. “What’s a G’ortian?”
“Someone of unusual gifts and powers that develop very young.” That’s how he saw V’ru, but not himself. When he looked in the mirror he saw a waste of power that should have gone to someone else, someone like his twin brother who would have used it to lead. G’ortian abilities were too unknown, too unpredictable to be used by a warrior.
Rayen asked, “Are you going to give Tony a real chance to tell his side of what happened today?”
That again? “What is it you think he can explain about escaping that’s not obvious? At least, to everyone else but you.”
“I told you. Maybe he had no choice and was taken as a hostage.” Her words were given in an even tone, but there was nothing easygoing about the snap of her dark eyes.
“If your friend was taken hostage then the decision will be simple.”
Rayen’s body relaxed, the combative edge leaving her gaze and tone. “Good. I was worried you’d just find him guilty no matter what.”
He hated to destroy Rayen’s moment of relief, but she had misunderstood him. “If your friend was taken hostage, Mathias won’t have to make any decision, because the TecKnati do not take hostages. If the scout does not recognize your friend, he will assume Tony is a TecKnati traitor who has gained unauthorized access to the Sphere and kill him.”
Rayen looked away, her face schooled to reveal nothing when she turned to him again. “Having Tony end up dead would suit you just fine, wouldn’t it?”
She made him sound heartless. He hadn’t ordered her friend’s death. Yet. What would she do in his place? “I only told you the truth.”
“Then here’s the truth, too. I hope Tony did manage to escape on his own, because I don’t want him to die. He’s not a traitor or anything else, and hasn’t harmed any of you.”
“He is a–”
“TecKnati. I get it. You hate TecKnati and you think Tony is one therefore you’re justified in hating him.”
When she put it that way, the correlation sounded completely irrational, but he’d already figured out that she had a way with words. A skill he had never developed.
With no better argument, he waved a hand at her. “I don’t play word games.”
She moved so quickly he couldn’t get up before she towered over him, an avenging angel with her hands gripping each corner of the chair back at his shoulders, locking him into place. Yes, he could shove her across the room. She’d sworn to not use her powers against him, but he was bigger, and physically, he was stronger, and he had kinetic powers she didn’t know about yet, though that gift was still evolving. The bottom line was that he didn’t want to harm her.
On the other hand, maybe she’d like a little sparring match. Talking to her might be easier if he let her work off some of that bottled-up fury.
She leaned her head down. “Word games? I’m not playing games with someone’s life. You can’t just declare someone an enemy without reason. As a leader, you’re expected to be fair and consider all possibilities.”
What had been fair about killing MystiK children?
“Mathias is the leader. I’m his sword arm.” He angled his head back, trying not to be distracted by the sizzle of her emotions roiling through the air. “Regardless, do not think to tell me my duty. Every person here is my responsibility. And every one here has been harmed by TecKnatis. Do not dare to tell me how to handle the travesties committed by our enemy. Crimes they must be punished for.”
“I’d understand your punishing a crime committed here, but you blame Tony for crimes he hasn’t committed. That’s wrong!”
He lifted a hand to cup her face and stopped himself, folding all his fingers until only his index finger stood. “Here’s what’s wrong–TecKnati using their advanced technology to commit heinous crimes with no chance of being caught.”
“So anyone you merely suspect of being TecKnati is held accountable?” Rayen’s low voice bubbled with fierce determination. “How’s that right? Or fair?”
“You want to talk fair? They murdered Jornn, my twin brother and sent his body home for my mother to see his bowels hanging out and a triangle hole where his heart had once been.” Callan grabbed the sides of his chair in death grips and pushed up into her face. “They tortured him, brutalizing every inch of his body except his face. TecKnati wanted that to be my mother’s last vision of her oldest son.”
Rayen stared open mouth then dropped her head, her shoulders easing, her voice lowered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean . . .”
He hadn’t meant to talk about Jornn. He’d kept that pain locked behind a strong wall, hidden from the world. Grief welled up in his throat until he couldn’t breathe.
His amazing, gifted brother, the one expected to take over the Warrior House. The one who possessed all the attributes of a leader his people would follow.
Not me. But Callan would do whatever it took to protect these children and find a way home. Too many had died. No more.
“Callan.”
When he shook off the suffocating grief, he found Rayen squatting in front of him.
For the past year, he’d worked himself twice as hard as any other warrior he trained for the simple reason that it kept him from thinking. And feeling.
This strange girl had done this to him. Made him feel.
He lifted a calloused thumb to stroke the soft skin on her cheek.
The sound of her voice soothed the beast that wanted out to rampage and kill his enemies. She whispered, “I understand your pain. I’d probably feel the same way if I lost a brother or sister that way.” She lifted her hand and touched his arm. “I’m not judging you. I only wanted you to think twice before condemning an innocent person.”
Callan lifted his other hand to her face, holding it there in indecision. He wanted to touch his lips to hers, to feel the warmth radiating from her.
“Are you at a disadvantage, Callan?” a young voice called from the doorway.
Rayen stood quickly and backed away.
Callan took a breath, shaking off the strange feeling that had come over him and called out, “No, I’m ready to meet.” He stood, angling his head toward the door and said, “This is V’ru of the Record
s House. He’ll tell me who you are.”
CHAPTER 29
Staring at wonder boy V’ru, I wanted to ask Callan if he was the one playing games now. Was he serious about taking advice from some boy whose head didn’t reach my shoulder and who wasn’t even in his teens yet?
V’ru was gangly stick arms and legs, huge brown eyes and a toothy smile that fell away the minute he stared up at me. He wore a cloth wound around him that brought the word “toga” to mind, but he was so skinny the loose clothing looked as though someone had wrapped a stick with a napkin. His thick black hair fell mop-like into his face as one small hand kept shoving it out of his eyes.
This was the all-knowing wise one?
“V’ru, this person is known as Rayen,” Callan said, by way of finishing introductions.
“How old is he?” I muttered, seeing my fate in the hands of a kid who would topple over if I blew on him. Not just my fate, but Tony’s, too, if Mathias showed up with the Jersey Jerk captured.
“He is eleven years of age and prefers to be spoken to directly rather than treated as though he does not hear you,” V’ru said, as though admonishing a small child.
I lifted my hands and struggled to keep a straight face. “No insult meant.”
V’ru merely dipped his head slightly, accepting the apology, which caused his hair to slip into his eyes again, then stepped forward to ask Callan, “How may I assist you?”
“We found Rayen and two other unknowns at a new transender location today. We have determined the other female in the trio to be Hy’bridt.”
That garnered a slight slant of V’ru’s eyebrows in surprise before Callan continued. “We suspect the male with them to be TecKnati.” Callan glanced at me as if to say, see, I can be fair, too.
Even though I now better understood his rabid hatred of his enemies, I still couldn’t allow anyone to take the life of someone who had not personally caused harm, or judge him based on what others had done. I was betting my life that Tony was not TecKnati. Sure, the Jersey Jerk could be a pain, but that didn’t warrant a death sentence.
I considered it a move in the right direction that Callan had used the word “suspect,” but that may only have been to prevent me from protesting further.
V’ru held himself very straight, his fragile hands now clasped behind his back. He spoke as if he stood before elders six times his age. “And what do you know of this one?”
This one? I lifted a hand. “Stop right there. I’m not this one. If you don’t want me to refer to you as if you aren’t here then call me by my name. Rayen.”
V’ru’s eyes rounded even more at the order. “I see what you have had to suffer, Callan.”
What did that mean?
Callan gave V’ru a friendly look unlike anything I’d seen cross his face since meeting me. He clearly had a fondness for this kid. “It’s not so bad, V’ru, but I need your answers to help Mathias make a decision on what to do with the three of them.”
How could anyone make life and death decisions based on a conversation with an eleven-year-old boy?
V’ru made a quarter turn with his body as if he were on a spindle and asked me, “State your family history.”
Spearing Callan with an impatient glance, I summarized what I knew quickly. “I don’t know my family history. I woke up this morning in the middle of the desert near the Sandia Mountains with a beast chasing me and with no idea who I am or where I’m from. Some people picked me up in a transport unit with wheels and took me to a school.”
“Wheels?”
I nodded, noting that I wasn’t the only one who thought that odd.
“Intriguing. How do you know your name is Rayen if you do not know who you are?”
This kid would ask that. “I...uhm, let’s just say I do have some innate knowledge, like the fact that I’m seventeen.” No point in mentioning the ghost or that I’m allergic to peanuts.
Time stretched from one long second to the next as V’ru appeared to study on something before asking another question. “Why did you come here?”
“To this Sphere?”
“Yes.” The word might have been short, but V’ru loaded it with serious of-course attitude.
“I didn’t have a choice. I was in an equipment room at the school with Tony and Gabby, looking for a computer when I turned one on and got sucked into it.”
“Computer?” V’ru looked from me to Callan. “That is...not possible.”
Callan interjected, “I thought the same thing, but I believe she is telling the truth.” He paused, then added, “About the computer.”
Meaning I might be lying about everything else? I let that go and spoke to V’ru again. “Anyhow, Tony and Gabby grabbed my arm to keep me from disappearing, but they got pulled in, too. Next thing we know we’re in the thing you call a transender, then spit out here where we end up fighting for our lives and saving little kids.”
I sent that last comment in Callan’s direction to remind him that two children were alive right now because of what I had done as well as the efforts of Gabby and Tony.
His eyes wouldn’t meet mine, but I could tell I’d hit the mark by the way his fingers curled into fists and uncurled.
V’ru cocked his head at me. “What year were you born?”
“I don’t know, but I’m guessing if I’m seventeen that I was born about 1996.”
That answer turned V’ru into a statue, staring at me as if I weren’t human. When the kid did speak it was with a hushed awe. “No one has ever perfected forward travel through time. Not even the TecKnati.”
Callan nodded, “Exactly, so how can this be?”
“Either she lies–”
I snapped, “It’s not a lie.”
“–or the TecKnati have developed technology I cannot access.” V’ru sounded as though that was beyond improbable. He looked right at me when he said, “Give me your blood.”
“What?”
“I said–”
I waved him off with my hand. “I know what you said, but I’ve given up enough blood today.”
“Why do you fear me?” V’ru appeared completely baffled.
Fear a skinny eleven-year-old? Insulting. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“Then hold out your hand.”
Callan explained, “V’ru needs a sample of your blood to process.”
I could accept that, though I didn’t like getting jabbed with another needle. The Institute had already taken blood samples and fingerprints. With V’ru stuck in this Sphere, I doubted the kid would get results back faster than the school.
Still, to show good faith, I extended my hand with the palm up. V’ru nodded at Callan who produced a short blade from where it had hung from a loop on the belt slung around his waist. I breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn’t cut my throat when I’d stood over him earlier. Now he just pricked my finger then backed away as I offered the bubble of blood to V’ru.
What exactly would this kid do with the blood?
Reaching out with two narrow fingers, V’ru carefully lifted a smudge of blood between his thumb and forefinger. He swirled the drop for a minute between his fingers then took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
I watched Callan for his reaction, but he seemed content to wait on whatever V’ru was doing.
When V’ru opened his eyes again, he reached into a pocket on his toga outfit and produced a small cloth to wipe his fingers clean. With his arms shoulder-width apart, he lifted his hands, palms facing out.
A bright, translucent image in the shape of a rectangle came to life, similar to the computer screens that I’d seen in Mr. Suarez’s classroom. But this one had no structure holding the image floating in the air.
I pointed. “That’s–”
Callan answered, “–a holographic monitor. Shhh. We have to be quiet while V’ru uses his gift to analyze.”
V’ru moved his hands back and forth in front of the monitor, tapping in places and pausing images that streamed past faster than I could process. Wh
en the kid slowed down, the screen image coalesced into one of a stark, light-filled landscape and a cliff-dwelling abode that brought up the word “home” in my mind. More memories surfacing?
Could this kid actually tell me who I was? My heart started beating faster. I sucked in a sharp breath, excited. Home!
V’ru pushed the screen to his left as if it slid on a track and I felt as though something vital to me disappeared.
I spoke first, aware of half-formed thoughts pushing at me. “I’ve seen a projection like that before. That’s driven by a Cyberprocessor, isn’t it?”
“Some are,” V’ru allowed, considering me with a curious expression. “MystiKs do not utilize Cyberprocessors, but you are not MystiK.”
I’d survived deadly beasts, a trip through a computer and spear tips to face this judgment-by-child without trial? I don’t think so. “I’m getting tired of saying this, but I am not TecKnati.”
“I believe you.”
Callan said, “What?” as I said, “Really?”
Addressing Callan first, V’ru explained, “I must have more time for a complete analysis, but this one–Rayen–has no residue of the K-enzyme, the metallic ink in her system. This ink is what all TecKnatis use to mark their human population.”
I gave Callan a victorious smirk. “See?”
“However,” V’ru continued. “As I said, I need more time to study on this. Your physiology is not of the ancient times that you claim.”
Callan returned the smirk, but added a dose of suspicion. “So you did lie about coming from the year 2013.”
“No, I didn’t, but if your boy recorder here is so smart what year am I from?”
Callan and I turned to V’ru who said, “If you know what a Cyberprocessor is then you cannot be from the year 2013 as it was not created until the year 2129, month July, the day 17, time–”
I cut in, “Okay, I get your point and I don’t know how I know about Cyberprocessors, only that I do. Just like I know I traveled here from 2013.”
