Secrets

by Shannon Pemrick

  “I’ll come with you,” Tla’lli decided. “You may need some help. This woman will be distraught after hearing the news.”

  “I agree, but for another reason. There will be children at the house.”

  Tla’lli sighed. “All the more reason for me to go then. They will need a distraction while you break the news.”

  “Talon.” Zo motioned for him to come over and he did as asked. “You’ll be going with them, correct?”

  Talon nodded. “That would be correct, sir.”

  “All right, then if Delmon’s wife stabilizes enough for you to talk to her after the news is broken to her, see if she can think of anything that was happening out of the ordinary. Anything that would give us a clue as to why Delmon was chosen to be controlled.”

  “I will see what I can do. If she isn’t stable enough, I’ll just give her the information she’ll need to be able to contact us when she’s ready. It might be a good idea to assign someone to watch her place once we let her know, just in case her knowing puts her and her family in danger.”

  Zo nodded. “That would be a good idea. I’ll get on that right now, so when you three leave her place there will be someone around to monitor them.”

  “Make that the four of us.” Tla’lli looked at me. “You’re going to want to make sure Raikidan is okay before we leave tonight. He’s going to want to go no matter his condition, and he won’t be happy you left without him or had someone to take his place.”

  I chuckled. “He’ll be especially unhappy if someone took his place.”

  “That’s right, he doesn’t think anyone can do the job as well as he can,” she teased.

  “After tonight, I doubt he’s wrong.”

  Tla’lli smiled and then jerked her head in his general direction. “Go check on him, then.”

  I nodded and excused myself. Tla’lli and Shva’sika went about shaman business, and the soldiers, except Zo, went about their business as well. As I headed over to check on Raikidan, I overheard the psychic speaking to Zo.

  “General, I feel as though you need to know this. The men I saw in the shaman’s memories, the ones controlling these people, they were wearing uniforms.”

  “What kind of uniforms?”

  “Military, but not from this city. I fear we may be under attack.”

  “Thank you for telling me, Saléna. I’ll put that information to good use.”

  “I am sorry I did not say something sooner. I just thought that knowledge should be for just us and not the shamans.”

  “It’s all right, Saléna. You did the right thing. We don’t need panic to spread.”

  Raikidan looked up at me when I reached him. He didn’t try to get up, so I knew he was still recovering. Instead I knelt down.

  “How you feeling?” I whispered.

  “Fine.” He seemed a little reluctant to talk.

  “Are you sure? I know how little shaman healing works on you.”

  “I said I’m fine.”

  I nodded. “That was brave of you to do, taking the blow like that.”

  “It’s my job.”

  I moved closer to him so our hoods touched, hiding our faces from the rest of the room. “Except it’s not your job, Raikidan, and you still chose my life over yours.”

  He held eye contact with me, though his were rather wide, as if he was overcome by what I pointed out.

  “And for the record, only one other person has ever chosen my life over their own.” My lips made contact with his and Raikidan locked up, surprised. I knew it was weird of me to do, but how else could I thank him for something like this? I can’t lie, I don’t hate the feeling of his lips on mine…

  I pulled away. “Thanks, Tiger.” A grin spread across his face as I stood up, but he said nothing. “I need to leave, to speak with someone about this situation. It’s up to you whether you come with me or not.”

  I headed for a door that had been cleared of debris without waiting for an answer. He’d catch up fast if he decided to join me. Tla’lli ran over to me once she noticed I was leaving, and Talon, of course, wasn’t too far behind.

  “Eira, would you mind doing me a favor?” the young Psychic, Saléna, messaged.

  “Depends.”

  “It’s simple. Just let Seda know that Saléna and Nyra say hello and that we’re doing well.”

  “Sure, I can do that.”

  “Thank you.”

  I sighed with slight relief as the wind picked up while I sat on the railing of the small balcony that was attached to the living room. Today was hot, and the air conditioner had broken only after an hour of using it. Now it laid in pieces on the coffee table, enduring the brain power of Ryoko, Rylan, and Argus to figure out what was wrong with it. But the heat was the last thing on my mind right now. The events of last night still plagued my mind.

  Raikidan had chosen to come with us to see Sara, and naturally, it wasn’t a pleasant visit. It had been late by the time we reached the house, thanks to Talon’s communicator not receiving the coordinates in a timely manner, but Sara and the children had been still up, much to our surprise. Sara was the most surprised to see us on her doorstep, although she was still quite pleasant and accommodating by inviting us in.

  She was obviously stressed, due to the months-long disappearance of her husband. Even as she made room for us, it was clear that our appearance made her even more nervous. Understandably so, especially after Tla’lli brought the children into another room without explanation. I could tell something wasn’t right, beyond the stress of her missing husband and our sudden appearance. Once we disclosed who we were, she became visibly agitated, though she kept herself controlled as she sat patiently on the couch. I ended up pulling my hood down to make it easier for her to connect with me. Unfortunately, my action only made her start to fall apart. She knew at that moment that her husband wasn’t coming back, but I still told her, and of course, it had only gotten worse. She had been so distraught over the news that I had to restrain her and hold her close to me so she wouldn’t get violent.

  In the middle of her crying, she would lash out and pass the blame and try to get away, but I wasn’t going to budge, and I wasn’t going to blame her for what she said. These situations were always difficult. It was the other reason, on top of my spirit walking problem, that my training hadn’t gone as planned. I wasn’t able to deal with these kinds of situations as well as I should have back then.

  Once Sara had calmed down enough, Tla’lli had allowed the children back into the room, and I let Sara go so she could be with them. Talon had written something down on a piece of paper and had given her instructions on how she could speak with the military when she was ready, but she surprised us by telling us she was ready now—and the information she gave was disturbing.

  She told us how before Delmon disappeared, she would see strange people standing across the street, and they would just stare at the house. Delmon had been at work every time, so when she told him about the men, he would just shrug it off. She told us how over time, she would notice them more and more until it felt as if they were there every day, but Delmon continued to shrug it off—until one day, he called out of work per her request and saw them for himself. Delmon chose to confront the men, but when he stepped outside, they had disappeared as if they had never existed. She told us it was about a week and a half after this that Delmon ended up disappearing, along with some other people they knew.

  When Talon had asked her if there was anything she was worried about, she admitted she felt like they were still watching them. She had been so afraid that she had pulled the kids out of school and taught them from home. It was only when she gave us this bit of information that I realized Raikidan had been acting weird. He wasn’t paying attention to anything going on inside the house. Instead, he stared out the window of the front door.

 
I had gotten up to see if he was okay, but he had me sit back down and made sure no one made any moves out of the ordinary. Sara and the kids became scared, and I demanded Raikidan to tell us what was going on. He reluctantly told us we were being watched. Unfortunately, that frightened the family more, and I chose to steal a peek. I had pulled my hood back over my head and sneakily peered out of the kitchen window.

  Across the street, three people stood in the shadows on the street, just outside the reach of the lamppost. They had a creepy aura about them, and I wasn’t going to just stand here and let them just scare this family. I left the window and pushed past Raikidan to confront them. The men weren’t expecting such a move, slowing their reaction time, allowing me to easily chase one of them down after they all split up. The man I tackled was strong, and able to struggle his way out of my grip, but Raikidan was stronger and apprehended him. Talon had come over and tied the man up while Tla’lli stayed in the doorway of the house and kept the family inside where it was safe.

  The man wasn’t at all cooperative. He ignored Talon’s orders to explain himself, and rambled nonsense about how it was going to be too late, and that we weren’t going to be able to stop the inevitable. Before we could get anything out of him, a gunshot echoed through the street and the man fell over—blood pooling around him. He was dead and this situation was getting worse by the second for this family.

  Talon called in for more men to watch the area to make sure the family stayed safe. One or two guys weren’t going to be able to protect them at this rate, and once school started back up for these kids, they were going to need to be able to go. Sara wasn’t going to be able to provide for them without a job, and she couldn’t home school them if she was working.

  My thoughts were pulled away from that night when Blaze shuffled into the living room. He looked as though he hadn’t slept at all—or was recovering from a hangover.

  “You okay, Blaze?” Argus asked him.

  Blaze shook his head. “My head is pounding.”

  Ryoko giggled. “Don’t tell me you drank too much.”

  Raid snorted. “He had two drinks. What a lightweight.”

  “I don’t remember drinking anything. Why was I drinking again?”

  Ryoko giggled again. “Oh boy, tell me you remember the party.”

  Blaze looked at her in confusion. “Party? What party?”

  Zane looked up from his newspaper on the bar. “Don’t go saying that now, Blaze. It was the party of a lifetime. You would be missing out if you couldn’t remember Eira’s dance.”

  Blaze’s brow furrowed. “She danced?”

  “Yeah, it was real sexy, too,” Ryoko teased.

  I poked my head inside the room. “Aw, that means you missed the outfit that matched my dance, as well. Ryoko was even doing it with me.”

  “Fuck the goddess!” Blaze looked distraught over missing this.

  I gasped and I climbed back in from the balcony. “Tell me you remember the twins.”

  “What twins?” he asked.

  Ryoko giggled. “Oh man, he doesn’t remember the twins.”

  “What are you two talking about?” he demanded.

  I did my best to contain my enjoyment while the room echoed with quiet snickers as they all realized what the two of us were doing. “I can’t believe you don’t remember the twins. They were so into you. But you must have been really drunk or something, because you didn’t give them the right signals, and each of them only gave you a kiss on the cheek and left right after.”

  “Both of them?” he asked.

  I smirked. “At the same time.”

  Blaze ran his fingers through his hair. “Fuck me! I’m going back to bed. This is just one hell of a bad dream.”

  Once he was down the hall and around the corner, the room erupted with laughter. His reaction was better than anticipated.

  “Someone please tell me what the hell happened there,” Rylan managed.

  “Yeah, seriously,” Raid agreed. “He really didn’t drink that much.”

  “Even when he does drink a lot, he doesn’t usually forget,” Argus said.

  Shva’sika got her laughter under control and pulled a blue pill out of a box she had brought out earlier. “Do you remember me making all of you take these?”

  Raid nodded. “You gave one to all of us except Blaze, saying he was the only one who wasn’t going to need one.”

  Shva’sika smirked. “Well he didn’t need it—unless he needed to remember what happened last night.”

  The boys looked at her as if they didn’t get it, but Zane’s laughter boomed through the room, showing he did. “You spiked the drinks!”

  Shva’sika giggled. “It’s possible.”

  The boys looked at her, astonished. Even Genesis looked surprised. Zane continued to laugh. “That, my dear, is the most diabolical thing I can imagine a shaman doing.”

  “And letting it all happen to Blaze was her idea,” I added.

  “But it was you and Ryoko who chose to make it go as far as it did,” Shva’sika corrected.

  “Who cares?” Raid said. “Here I thought you were a sweet lady who had no bad bone or thought in her body. I never want to piss you off!”

  “You never want to piss off any woman,” Zane corrected. “Unless you want to be dead.”

  “Or wish you were dead,” I added.

  All the ladies in the room laughed. I stopped when I remembered something. “Speaking of the party, Seda, a woman named Saléna wanted me to tell you she and Nyra say hello and they’re doing well.”

  Seda smiled. “Thank you. I was beginning to wonder that.”

  “Who are they, may I ask?”

  Seda didn’t respond. She actually looked reluctant to tell, as if it were a major secret.

  “Seda, it’s okay. You can tell them,” Genesis allowed.

  Seda nodded. “Saléna and Nyra are my younger sisters.”

  “So why the reluctance to tell?” Argus asked.

  “They’re also psychics,” I said.

  Rylan looked at Seda curiously. “Is that true?”

  She nodded. “Yes, but… they were planned.”

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Raid said.

  Seda sighed. “They’ve figured out there’s an actual psychic gene—and it’s hereditary.”

  “Does Zarda know?” I asked. It was the most important thing to at this point.

  Seda shook her head. “Not at this point. It was a geneticist’s theory, so they went with it. They don’t know the gene yet, but even if they find it, they aren’t planning on telling Zarda. They believe if they can track down the gene, they can prevent it in future experiments, and their goal is for it to only occur in natural humans and other such beings.”

  “So what made them choose your DNA?” Ryoko asked.

  Seda shrugged. “A chance happening. From what I know, they took three different sets of DNA and tried to recreate them, but only my sisters made it through the tank process. When they came out, they had the active gene, so they knew it was a hereditary process.”

  “I’m assuming you’ll be working close to this development, by the friendliness Saléna gave me,” I said.

  Seda nodded again. “I’m going to make sure they stay safe, and to find out more of what the geneticists can find out. It might help the rest of us with any issues we may currently have.”

  I nodded. “Just be careful. Is there anything else significant about these siblings?”

  Seda shifted in her seat as if struggling with this question. “Well—I have noticed every once in a while that I feel a connection with one of them that is similar to the one I feel with Nioush, but it’s also different.”

  “It’s the reason you’ve been leaving from time to time,” I guessed.

  She
nodded. “Yes. We’re trying to understand if a larger psychic connection is starting to form. If it is, we’re trying to figure out if it’s going to get as strong as the one Nioush and I have with each other, or if it will be less intense. There’s just so much going on with this. It’s gotten to the point where Nioush has begun cooperating just so he can get this put to rest.”

  “Well, again, be careful,” I said. “We don’t need you getting hurt.”

  Seda smiled. “You know I will. Oh, Genesis, I think your communicator is going off.”

  Genesis blinked and then dashed off to her room. She came back moments later.

  “Anything good?” Ryoko asked.

  She shook her head. “Just a recon for later tonight, but I passed it along.”

  Ryoko shrugged in acceptance and went back to working on the air conditioning unit. I, on the other hand, found that a little strange. Genesis had been doing that a lot lately. I couldn’t understand why, since in order to end this rebellion, we needed to do our assignments. But maybe there was some genius plan going on in that head of hers that I didn’t know about. In the end, it didn’t matter. She had already passed the assignment to another team, so we were stuck here.

  Chapter 36

  (Ryoko)

  My heavy boots thundered on the asphalt as Laz led us down the abandoned street. She set a quick pace, but just slow enough for the rest of us to keep up with her. I understood her rush, but I wished she knew how to set a pace we could all keep up with just a little more easily.

  The sounds of battle closed in, pumping adrenaline through my body, making me numb to my desire to slow down. This was why we were running. We were reinforcements for an unfortunate battle that transpired as a result of the recon assignment Genesis had passed on earlier. We were going to try to win a losing battle—but that was nothing new.