“Hey!” Beth said, her laughter gone.
Jacky rolled his eyes. “With Miss Hotness?” He gave Beth a knowing look, and she opened her mouth then closed it.
Merrick shot her a glance that clearly said see my problem?
She was beginning to see it quite clearly.
“So that the perv alarms don't sound, my buds here will offer diffusion.”
Beth remembered her assessment of the boy, who had an IQ of one hundred thirty. Beth knew from her study of the history of this sector that the boy was in the upper two percent of the Three population intellect.
What that meant for them was they had a very bright, emotionally immature Three to deal with. Who was also a Sensitive.
His eyebrows rose as he gave them an impatient glance. “Well, come on. Put some lead in it, guys.”
They followed. There were not too many of the mixed gender Threes paying attention to a couple in a group of three. Maybe they could be older siblings.
However, as point man, Merrick had an almost military bearing. And though Merrick’s coloring was unusual, it was still within Three norms—barely.
Beth was aware Merrick stood out. His hard edge was difficult to erase, and it followed him to every sector. Beth had one, too, but no one searched for it in a female.
She was having difficulty getting used to being inconspicuous in Sector Three when she was noticed for every breath she took in Papilio.
The change was somewhat disconcerting.
She walked behind the group and kept their back secure.
*
Beth and Merrick lay on their stomachs. Merrick thumbed his pulse viewers off.
“Let me see those. They're righteous,” Jacky said.
Beth could see that Merrick would not be ready for offspring any time soon. She’d thought their drills back home were strenuous, but an hour in the company of Jacky Caldera felt like a full workout.
“These are not for…” Jeb looked at Beth. “Teens.”
“Listen, you're a bad-ass dude, but you're about as useful as balls on a priest. Just sayinʼ.”
“Am I?” Merrick asked. He grabbed Jacky by the arms and jerked him to within an inch of his face.
“I have traipsed for over an hour to a female's house whom you say is in imminent peril, yet we sit with the proverbial thumb up our collective asses while you wish for a show-and-tell.”
“Okay!” Jacky squeaked. “Gawd!”
Merrick dumped the boy, and Beth laughed.
“You haven't lost your charm, Merrick. No matter where we travel, it follows you.”
“Quiet,” Jeb said, suddenly serious.
They hunkered down, their attention directed at the domicile’s front entrance.
The door burst open, and a slip of a female ran out, a large Three male nearly on top of her.
“That's her. That's Madeline.”
“You sure she is a Dimensional?” Merrick asked, stumbling over the last word.
“Yeah, bro—she hops around and comes back telling us all this crazy shit.”
“Silence,” Merrick clipped.
Beth knew he wanted to listen to the argument in front of the house as she did. It was escalating.
Merrick stood, but didn't seem to realize he'd done so, and he appeared almost surprised to find himself on his feet.
The Three's hand wrapped the female's windshield wiper of an arm.
“Do something!” Jacky said.
Merrick didn't move.
“Jasper.”
“Got it.”
Beth walked out from behind the narrow hedge that bordered the houses, which were like rotten teeth of varying colors. The rows of depressing domiciles hadn't been touched in years. The patch of grass that the girl stood on wept with weeds that spiraled up around her thin legs.
The male shook her, and a pulse began to pound in Beth's temple. Subdue, subdue, subdue.
Seventh: no death is without consequence.
She could barely remember the directive in the face of the domestic brutality she was witnessing.
“What's going on here!” Beth yelled, startling the pair.
Madeline didn't look as relieved as she should have, only as though she’d been granted a short respite from the violence.
The man looked Beth up and down, clearly deciding he had the upper hand.
He could not have been more wrong.
“Looks like I got myself a little discipline with this bitch of a daughter, little lady.”
Beth loathed monikers that mocked size.
The beauty of the girl's voice, low and melodic, startled Beth.
“I am not your daughter,” she seethed in an even tone.
Beth liked her.
“Close enough.” He shook her. “Who pays the bills in this house?” the horrible male ground out.
More shaking, hair whipping back and forth.
Beth stepped closer, and his eyes flicked to her position.
“You want a piece of this, girlie? ’Cause none of what's going down here is your beeswax. You feel me?”
Beth did.
“I do… feel you,” she said slowly.
The brand of his fingers remained on Madeline's arm after he released her, turning his attention to Beth.
“You got something you think I need?” He grabbed his crotch.
What is the obsession males of this sector have with their penises? Whatever it was, it was unhealthy.
She decided it was unwarranted, as well.
“Find out, vile scum.”
His smile grew, filling out a face that might have been handsome at some point in the past but was tired and hard because of his life's decisions.
“Lady,” Madeline whispered, “just go.”
The man whipped around to her.
“You shut your fucking mouth, Maddie, or I'll close it for you. Me and her are gonna have a nice little chat about puttinʼ our nose where it doesn't belong.”
Beth and Madeline looked at each other.
“I can take you from this,” Beth offered as if the horrible man didn't exist.
Madeline's brows pulled together, and Beth was heartbroken to see the girl's fragile beauty spoiled by her environment. A gem sat among imposters, her subtle fire outshining those who wished to stifle it.
No wonder the spitfire Jacky had wanted to defend her. The boy had worth, even though he was so young.
“No, just go… he'll hurt you,” she warned Beth, to her own peril.
The man bore down on Madeline, backhanding the girl so quickly that she had no time to defend herself. The girl sprawled on the ground.
Beth reacted immediately. The man looked up in shock.
“You're never going to hit her again.” Beth held tightly to his wrist, which he’d pulled back in preparation to deliver another blow to Madeline.
Her words had rolled out before she could squelch them. She knew he was a hundred pounds heavier than her—and inches taller.
But he was inebriated, and his self-destructive alcohol consumption and neglect had made him slow.
“Then I'll use you as a punching bag.”
Beth grinned, and a flash of fear flared in his eyes.
He jerked his wrist, and without thinking, Beth crushed the bones together. He howled, kicking out.
She blocked his leg and swept his large body to the ground, using his wrist as leverage as he fell like a tree without roots.
She hopped on top of him.
Her fists fell like a rain of flesh hammers.
“Stop!” Madeline screamed.
Beth paused.
She asked the most logical question of the day. “Why?”
“He takes care of my mom.”
Beth met her eyes. After a few heartbeats of silent communication, Beth stood.
She threw her instep out with precision, stomping the male’s crotch.
He shrieked into the night. The sound cheered Beth.
It felt almost as good as watching Merrick do the sa
me to the corrupt cop—almost.
*
“Maddie!” Jacky called as the girl tried to pick herself off the ground. Twice.
She was shaking so badly that Beth went and hauled her to her feet, but Madeline shrank from her.
“I won't hurt you.”
Madeline nodded a little too quickly.
“Remind me never to piss you off,” Merrick said coolly, a smile ghosting his lips.
The male rolled around the weedy lawn, grabbing his privates while moaning about retribution.
“Shut your pie hole, or I shall kick that, too.”
“Syntax, Jasper.”
Beth glowered at him.
“Piss off, Merrick.”
He barked out a laugh. “Yes!” He raised his fist.
Beth glared at him.
The teens were speaking quietly. Jacky had his hands on Madeline's shoulders, and even at his young cycles, he was taller than she was.
Beth thought Madeline’s eyes were ancient, though her assessment told her that the girl was only nearing full maturity.
“They can help ya, Maddie… give it a chance—please!”
Hearing a Three plead was something to behold.
The light grew dim.
Night had sunk its teeth into the day, shaking it like a dog with a bone. The light gave in and evening slid into the shadows and spilled toward them.
Beth walked to the teens.
Principle they are young. Still, she recognized that without her stylized training, she would not feel so much older. The girl was only a few years younger.
Madeline's lower lip trembled. “Who are you?”
Beth shook her head. “Is there somewhere we can go?”
“I know just the place,” Jacky said.
Merrick toed the writhing male on the ground. “This one will remain incapacitated for a time.”
Beth's eyes went to Merrick's.
“Where?” Jeb asked.
“An abandoned dump. There's a sort of fort there that these teenagers use—”
“Let's go,” Merrick said, cutting him off.
The girl tried to pull away, but Merrick held her fast by the shoulders.
She seemed positively frail next to Merrick, probably how Beth looked next to him. The thought made Beth frown.
“Please… don't hurt me,” Madeline begged.
“I would never hurt a female,” Merrick said with a disdainful grunt.
“What?” Beth asked, lurching forward from the grim tone of his voice alone.
Merrick closed his eyes and recited the part of the assessment, which made Beth feel ill.
“Multiple fractures in various states of healing. Deep contusions, old and new.”
Merrick bared his teeth, popping open his eyes, which appeared eerie in the low light of the fading day. “I'm not asking now.”
“Okay,” she said in a meek voice.
Jacky Caldera took her hand and led them to their next jumping point, or so Beth hoped.
*
The dump was the strangest place Beth had ever visited. The assortment of Sector Three trash was utterly fascinating.
It had been a long walk from the far eastern Quadrant of Kent to the lip of the valley below.
Beth doubted that any of the people of this quadrant knew that their valley of cement structures and highways, which would become obsolete in a hundred years, had once held a great river. The valley had held trees with trunks wider than some of the domiciles they'd just rescued Madeline DeVere from.
Beth looked at Madeline, feeling a pity that was uncomfortable to bear. The girl’s frail beauty made feelings of protection an almost automatic reaction.
“You don't have to take care of me, Jacky,” Madeline said.
“Chase would've wanted it.”
She hung her head.
Merrick raised his palm.
“I want explanations, and I want them now.”
“People in hell want ice water, I bet,” Jacky said.
“No—Jacky, don't. They helped us.”
Jacky swung his gaze from a pissed-off Merrick to Madeline.
“Ya can't go back. Ya gotta know that. He'll beat you til he kills ya.”
“No one's beating anyone,” Merrick said in a bald voice.
Beth nodded. Truth.
“You don't know Chuck, guys. He's got no built-in stopping point.”
“I know the kind of male you're referring to.”
Beth didn't expound on Merrick's comment. She knew he was thinking of Lance Ryan, languishing on Sector One because of stopping points or his lack thereof.
Merrick went to Madeline first, ducking below the strange subterranean building of crushed antique cars, squished like rotting corpses of metal above his head.
Jacky nodded. “Go ahead. They're too damn uptight to be dangerous.”
“I don't know, I saw her do pretty well earlier.” Her voice was shaky.
“We are breaking a lot of our rules by meeting with you… and the boy.”
“Teen, pal.”
“Technically, you're not a teen until you're thirteen, right?” Beth asked.
“Yeah.” Sullen green eyes, muddied from the dim surroundings, narrowed on her.
“Are you able to go places others cannot?” Merrick's attention was focused on Madeline.
She nodded, cupping her elbows.
Merrick's shoulders dropped. “Why is it you keep your ability secret?”
“Because he'll beat me when I come back.”
“Who?” Merrick's eyes cut to hers. “That unscrupulous male who struck you?”
Madeline didn't respond and stared at her hands instead.
“He will not hurt you again,” Merrick promised.
“That's what adults say, but then they make her go back.”
Her chin kicked up. “I'm almost eighteen, then I'll be free.”
Beth wouldn't have guessed the girl was nearly eighteen cycles—almost a woman.
That she had survived what Beth had witnessed was even more amazing than the rest.
“These guys are Dimensionals.”
Madeline's face jerked up. “Really?” She turned to Jacky. “What color are they?”
Jacky cleared his throat self-consciously. “That's kinda what it looks like—color, but… it's a hard thing to describe.”
“What are you saying?” Beth asked.
“He's a Sensitive,” Jeb said with certainty.
“No,” Jacky said, clearly not appreciating a term he was unfamiliar with.
“He's an Aura Reader,” Madeline offered.
Merrick looked at her.
Okay, so different names for the same thing, Beth decided.
“You see… what?” Merrick asked.
Jacky shrugged. “I see… color around people.”
“Like a halo.” Madeline laughed.
Beth liked the way her laughter chased the fear that hung on her like a bad smell.
“Do you need a reflection to jump?” Beth asked.
Madeline's brows came together. “Ah—no.”
“How do you”—Merrick spread his hands—“go to another world?”
Madeline shrugged. “I don't know exactly.”
“She goes a lot when Chuck starts in,” Jacky said.
“Is that true?” Merrick asked.
She nodded, not meeting his eyes.
“Okay,” Merrick began. “First, you're not a Dimensional or whatever this sector calls it.”
Beth opened her mouth, but Merrick drilled her with a be quiet look.
Fine.
She crossed her arms and blew hair out of her face to keep her words to herself.
“I am Jeb Merrick, and this is my partner, Beth Jasper.”
Madeline looked at them both.
“I'm Maddie DeVere and this is my friend, Jacky Caldera. He—he was the little brother of my boyfriend, Chase.”
A heartbeat of weighted silence passed.
“What happened to Chase, Maddie?”
Beth asked.
“He died last year in a car accident.”
Merrick inclined his head in understanding. “Pre-hover.”
“Huge fatalities,” Beth replied.
Jacky and Maddie looked at each other.
“Definitely aliens,” Jacky said.
“Not exactly…” Beth said with a small smile.
“What are ya called then? I mean, if you're like Maddie?”
She noticed Merrick had skipped over the Eleventh Directive smoothly. They’d done a lot of that of late.
“Reflectives.”
Eleventh: do not divulge your identity.
We’ve blown that all to Hades.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Jeb gazed at the younglings and immediately corrected himself.
No matter how naïve Madeline appeared, she was just over two years younger than Jasper, not technically a youngling.
It was hard to wrap his mind around. He flicked a gaze Jasper's way and back to Madeline.
“So you're saying that you guys come from places I've gone?”
Jeb shrugged. “I don't know where you've jumped. However, if I were to guess, I'd say there are some sectors you've escaped by sheer luck.”
Madeline shook her head, dark-brown hair sliding over her shoulders, her eyes a little wide.
“No,” she glanced at Jeb and Jasper. “I've been somewhere scary.”
“What's a sector?” Jacky asked.
Jeb raked a hand through his hair. He was digging their grave deeper with each word he said.
“There are thirteen sectors—worlds. Like this one.” Jeb pointed outward.
When the pair turned with his motion, they looked out over nothing but the twisted metal of the roof on top of a small shed.
“We inhabit Sector Ten—Papilio.”
The boy and young woman were silent for a moment.
Then the boy said, “So… you guys hop planets and beat people up?”
Jasper sighed.
“No, we police sectors that have used their advancements to the detriment of those who live under their rule.”
“So someone gets intelligence, like the whole inoculation, gives people a little power then uses them.”
The boy’s presumption was basically correct.
“You kicked Chuck's ass, the clown stepdad from hell.”
What Jeb heard was: the abuser's name was Chuck and he was from Hades.
Beth read his expression.
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