by Amy DuBoff
“Be careful,” Saera told him and ushered the teenagers to follow Kate toward the main residential wing.
“The presence is coming from this way,” Wil said to his father as he oriented toward the hall leading to the main entrance. “Their path should be safe deeper into the manor.”
“Agreed. Let’s go.”
“They set out at a jog toward the energy signature. The cool night air chilled Wil’s bare chest and back, but he was too focused on pinpointing the intruder to notice.
“It must be the Priesthood,” Cris suggested. “We must have tipped them off when we went to see Marie.”
“If they’re after Ryan, why wouldn’t they just break in through the balcony?”
“The alarms blanket the upper levels. The only way in or out without triggering the system is through select servant passageways,” his father replied.
“Ah, yes. Of course you’d know that.”
Wil stopped short when he detected the presence once again—much stronger than before. The intruder was close.
Cris nodded and pointed toward a darkened corridor. “In there.”
“Pin him,” Wil instructed. Simultaneously, he sent out a burst of energy to illuminate the hallway.
A figure dressed entirely in black and wearing a full face mask was being telekinetically pinned against the wall by his father, arms and legs spread.
“He’s strong,” Cris commented, not close to straining from what Wil could tell, but holding the individual immobile was taking sufficient mental resources.
“I’ll take him,” Wil said. He pinned the black-clad figure even harder against the wall, causing an old portrait painting to crash to the floor in its gold frame. He telekinetically yanked off the intruder’s mask, revealing the face of a young man with glowing red-brown eyes.
“Who are you?” Wil questioned aloud while he also sent telepathic spires into the intruder’s mind.
Though gifted with strong abilities compared to most, the intruder was powerless to resist Wil’s commands. “The Priesthood sent me.”
Of course. “Why?” Wil demanded.
Sweat beaded on the intruder’s brow. “Your daughter, Raena. She is the one they want.”
Wil tightened the telekinetic restraints. “What about her?”
“The bloodline. Her abilities. She is the key,” the man stammered.
“What were you sent here to do?”
“Take her.” The man gasped for air as the vice tightened around his chest. He shuddered, the telepathic spikes sliced deeper into his mind the more he resisted telling the truth. “Kill anyone else who resisted. But not the boy. Not Ryan. He— they need him, too.”
Wil evaluated the man’s ruined mind. His resistance had destroyed him. He panted in Wil’s suspended grasp.
I can’t let him report anything back to the Priesthood. Without hesitation, Wil drove one final, deadly spire into the man’s mind and released his telekinetic hold over him. The lifeless body crumpled to the floor.
“Wil!” Cris cried out. “Why did you…?”
“It was necessary.” He was surprised to find he didn’t feel any remorse. “They’d just send others. We need to send a message right back.” The Priesthood made me a killer—I’d managed to forget that for a while, but we’re still at war.
“I’m sorry you had to become this,” Cris murmured.
“Better me than everyone else.” Wil tossed the sword on the ground next to the body. “I’m surprised they only sent one person.”
“He may have just been a scout. We’re not safe here.”
“No. We should all stay together for the rest of the night,” Wil agreed.
“Why not just leave now?”
“We need the Priesthood to have time to realize their plan failed. We’ll leave in broad daylight so there’s no mistake that we’re gone. It’ll be safer for your parents that way.”
Cris nodded. “Okay, let’s go hole up for the night. My parents will be thrilled.”
Wil kept a wary watch on their surroundings as they walked through the empty halls toward the main master suite in the mansion. Was this planned all along, or did the Priesthood act because of our visit with Marie today? Do they want Raena and Ryan paired to break the Generation Cycle, or do they have some other plan?
His father seemed to be absorbed in his own thoughts. Then, seemingly out of nowhere he asked, “Have you ever run a comparative genetic analysis between Raena and Jason?”
“No. Why would I have?”
“No, I guess not. But why would the Priesthood be interested in Raena and not Jason? In theory, they should have the same genetic markers.”
Wil considered the proposition. “I suppose it’s possible that there’s a marker carried on the X that isn’t on the Y.”
Cris shook his head. “Think about it. The Priesthood was manipulating the dynastic bloodlines for generations. Certain families are known for having boys and others for girls. What if that family tradition originated through a mandate from the Priesthood so certain traits from each would be passed down?”
“And whatever ‘key’ the Priesthood is after rests with a Dainetris man and a Sietinen woman,” Wil completed the thought for him silently.
“Exactly. They had to have known Banks visited Marie—no matter how well he covered his tracks. They probably would have found another suitable partner for her if it hadn’t been him. Then, make the child a Ward where he’d be easy to track.”
“Shite!” Wil breathed under his breath. “Were they counting on us intervening? Was the plan all along for us to facilitate Raena and Ryan getting together?”
“Have them in one place at the same time for them to come in and grab.”
“But sending one person…” Wil shook his head. “They know what I can do. No individual would stand a chance.”
Cris’ face drained. “Unless…”
This was all a setup to get me to step away. Wil broke into a full-out sprint.
Shouts sounded from down the hall as they approached the residential wing. White smoke drifted through the hall, obscuring his vision. He felt his way through the whiteout telekinetically, searching for Saera.
He found her on the ground, stunned and just beginning to regain consciousness. He dropped to his knees next to her, helping her up. “What happened?”
Saera massaged her temples. “There was a flash. I—”
Wil shook his head. Few things could floor an Agent, but there was no way around the effects of a stun gun when caught by surprise. This was all a setup. I should have known!
Anger boiled within him, even before he sought confirmation for his suspicions. Raena, Ryan…
He rose to his feet as the smoke cleared. Jason and Kate were three meters away, both on their knees as their heads cleared. As he feared, the two other teenagers were nowhere in sight.
“Raena!” Saera screamed when she saw that her daughter was missing. She gripped Wil. “We have to find them!”
“We will,” he assured her while running to his son. “Jason, are you okay?”
“I think so…” Jason rose to his feet.
Wil held out his hand to Kate and she took it to help herself up, legs still wobbly.
“How did they get in?” Cris questioned to no one in particular.
“I think there was a hidden TSD arch,” Kate replied, finding her balance on her own. “I felt it just as I was losing consciousness.”
Of course! What better way to enter when you can’t walk in through the front door? Wil sent a telekinetic probe toward the walls, searching for a lingering energy signature from an arch. “They shouldn’t even have that technology.”
“It’s on file with the TSS,” Cris pointed out as he performed his own search.
A fair point, but Wil considered it an adulteration of the technology to use it for such underhanded means. Years of rage toward the Priesthood churned just beneath the surface—whispering for Wil to take action and seek revenge for old wrongs and this new assault
on his family. He struggled to keep it in check.
“An arch could link to anywhere,” he said, trying to stay focused.
“In theory, but there’s only one place I can think of that they’d go,” Cris replied.
“Their island.” Wil found the signature he was looking for. “Here!”
The four Agents converged on the space he’d identified. At first glance, the wall appeared like any other of the carved relief murals around the halls, this one depicting a mountain scene over a lake. The carving was framed with a vine pattern. When Wil inspected the mural, he realized that the center segment had been replaced—and what appeared to be the vines was actually camouflaged framework of the arch.
What about the event horizon? This would be pulled through. Wil tugged on the mural and it gave way, swinging outward to expose a shallow recess in the wall—just enough for someone to pass through.
“I’m going after them,” Wil announced, only realizing after he’d spoken how impulsive that sounded as he stood shirtless and without even shoes.
“I want to go, too, but we need to be rational about this,” Cris cautioned.
“What’s there to rationalize? The Priesthood just kidnapped my daughter and the Dain… someone else of importance,” he said for Jason’s benefit. “Who knows what they have planned for them! I’m not about to sit around and find out.”
Cris nodded. “I agree, but the intruder did say that they wouldn’t be harmed.”
“That same person also didn’t know about the real attack, so I don’t think we can regard that intel with any degree of certainty,” Wil shot back. “Standing around here talking won’t rescue them any faster.” He began reaching out telekinetically toward the arch.
His father blocked him. “I can’t allow you to walk into a trap.”
Wil glared at him. “They can’t stop me. I’ll blow up their whole foking island!”
“While you could, yes, we have no way of knowing what’s on the other side of that arch. You’re no more immune to a stun gun than anyone if they catch you off-guard.”
“I can be ready—” Wil insisted.
“And what about Raena and Ryan? They could easily get caught in the crossfire of a telekinetic battle.” Cris shook his head. “No, it’s too risky.”
Saera stood with her arms crossed, glaring at the wall. “I’d run in there myself right after you, but Cris is right. It might be more dangerous for them if we follow right away. This operation was highly planned—if they intended to hurt them, they would have been dead in the hallway. We have at least a little time.”
“So, what, we just ask the Priesthood to give them back?” Wil asked flippantly.
“Well, asking them what’s going on is a logical place to start,” Kate said. “I know we’re not on the friendliest terms, but this was a blatant assault on a High Dynasty.”
“She’s right,” Cris agreed. “They can’t expect that to stay quiet without opening a dialogue with us.”
Wil stared at his father with disbelief. “You didn’t just sit back and make a few vid calls when the Bakzen captured me! You expect me to—”
“What in the stars is going on?” Reinen bellowed from down the hall. He strode down the hall with Alana, both wearing dark blue silken robes.
“The Priesthood just declared all-out war,” Wil stated levelly.
“What?” Reinen questioned, looking to Cris for confirmation.
“Operatives from the Priesthood broke in and captured Raena,” Cris said. “Somehow they got a TSD arch in here.”
Reinen eyed the hinged section of the wall. “This hallway was renovated two years ago, if I recall. But this…”
“So they were planning this for at least two foking years.” Wil ran his fingers through his hair. It probably would be suicide to go through the arch after them. If Raena is the key, the rest of us are just obstacles in their way. None of us are safe.
Then, Wil remembered that there had been someone else planning a move against the Priesthood since before he was born. “The files from Banks.”
Cris came to attention. “There might be something we can use.”
Reinen started to question them again, but Wil was already running toward the nearest secure conference room. Please have the answers we need, Banks… And tell me my daughter is going to be okay.
CHAPTER 19
Wil raced to the office he had been using for research. While not an ideal setup, the secure datalinks he’d established for the genetic analysis earlier would give them the connection they needed to access Banks’ encrypted files without traveling back to Headquarters.
What was he hiding from us? Wil dashed into the room and activated the desktop.
“Stars! I feel like this is somehow my fault,” Cris said as he followed him into the office.
Wil logged onto the system and reinitiated a connection with the TSS Mainframe. “It’s the Priesthood’s doing. We’re all just players in their game.”
“But what are they after?”
“Achieving their vision of the future,” Wil replied. “And I think we’re about to find out what that is.”
The datalink established and Wil immediately set up an interface to unlock the file with the genetic code key. A series of locked files, indicated by red icons, appeared on the holographic display. The cipher began unlocking the files immediately, each icon turning from red to blue.
Wil glanced at his father. “This must be important if he went to such lengths.”
“He was never one to take anything lightly.”
When all of the icons were blue, Wil scanned over the list of newly revealed file names. One titled “Summary” jumped out at him. Looks like as good a place as any to start. He swiped over the holographic representation to open the file.
Text illuminated on the projected screen. Though far from a comprehensive report, the summary was true to its name and highlighted the key points: the Priesthood had been keeping women with telekinetic abilities out of the TSS and had likely captured some of them for some unknown purpose.
Wil’s stomach turned over as he read Banks’ notes. There was no knowing how many more had disappeared since Banks’ initial discovery two decades before. “What are we supposed to do with this information?”
“Stop the Priesthood, obviously,” Cris replied.
“How do we retaliate when we don’t even know what they’re doing?”
“We’ll figure something out. We always do.”
Wil shook his head. “If I’d known what was in here, I could have tried to crack it manually years ago.”
“I trusted Banks’ instructions to wait until the time was right, same as you. And what could we have done before now?”
“I don’t know, but I certainly wouldn’t have brought Raena here had I realized that the Priesthood would go to these extremes!”
“And since Ryan wasn’t in contact with his mother, we never would have found him,” Cris pointed out.
No action exists in a vacuum. Taking a calming breath, Wil examined the files again. “So, we know the Priesthood has been watching the Dainetris bloodline and they took steps to curate the continuation of Sietinen through my match with Saera. Since they haven’t taken any male prisoners—that we know of—until now, I’d wager that whatever would come from Raena and Ryan’s pairing is near their endgame.”
“They might be after the same solution to the Generation Cycle as the Aesir,” Cris suggested.
“There’s too much public benefit in that,” Wil said, shaking his head. “No, whatever the Priesthood is trying to do it’s for their own gain.”
His father crossed his arms. “And knowing that, we can’t let them proceed unchecked.”
“No, we can’t.” Wil paused in thought. “Well, this research all points to the Priesthood’s island. It’s a fair bet that they won’t move Raena and Ryan from there.”
“That place is a fortress. I don’t see a way to get in without it turning into a bloodbath.”
“The Priesthood declared war the moment they broke in here and took my daughter,” Wil stated. “A fight is exactly what they’re going to get.”
* * *
Light shone through Raena’s eyelids. She snapped to, her eyes flying open to inspect her surroundings.
At first glance, she appeared to be in a medical exam room—bed in the center, on which she was laying, a light overhead, viewscreen on the wall behind her displaying vitals, and cabinetry along the side walls.
How did I get here? she wondered as she looked around the space. Then, the details of the attack came back to her. She had been running with her family and Ryan toward her grandparents’ quarters, and a nearly invisible beam had rippled through the air from up ahead. Her mom and grandmother had immediately fallen to the ground. Someone wearing a mask dressed in all black had stepped out in front of her and… The rest was blank.
What happened to Ryan and Jason? And who would—
A door slid open in front of her, which had previously seemed like another smooth section of white wall. Two masked figures dressed in light gray robes stepped inside, followed by another in a black robe with a hood that obscured the individual’s face.
Raena flinched as they approached her and she realized that her wrists and ankles were bound.
“Ah, you’re awake,” the black-robed figure said in a male voice.
“Where am I?’ Raena demanded.
“You’re safe in your new home,” the man replied. “Don’t struggle.”
“This isn’t my home!” she spat back. “Who are you?”
“You are now in the care of the Priesthood of the Cadicle,” stated the man.
Raena’s pulse spiked as she thought through everything she’d heard about the Priesthood in her short time away from Earth. They were a powerful political entity, but the notion of kidnapping someone—let alone a dynastic heir—seemed extreme. However, maybe her parents and grandparents hadn’t told her everything.
She swallowed. “My parents will come for me.”
“There’s nothing they can do for you.”
Raena fought against her restraints. “Let me go!”
