The Escape

by Teyla Branton

  My brother nodded. “Oh, yeah. I can’t wait to hear about this idea of yours. But do me a favor, huh? Send Oliver home. Another night of listening to his whining might be more excitement than I can take.”

  Ava stifled a sigh, but I could see it on her face. “Don’t worry,” Dimitri said, a hand on her shoulder. “It’s nothing that won’t resolve itself in a hundred years.”

  “Yeah,” she replied, “we just have to make sure we all stay alive that long.”

  “THE BEST THING ABOUT TODAY,” Mari said as she and I rode the elevator down to breakfast the next morning, “is that Oliver isn’t going with us. Growing up I longed for cousins, but since meeting him, I take it all back.”

  “Well, you’ve got all of us now, especially Stella.”

  The elevator opened, and the delicious smell of bacon pulled us along to the dining room. Our cook, Janice, provided a nice buffet breakfast every morning at six, right after our morning workout. Technically no Unbounded needed food because absorbing gave us all the nutrients and calories we required, but sitting down to eat with the mortals in our group had become a ritual, one that bound us together more tightly and created a sense of normalcy that was missing from our lives.

  Besides, I loved the taste of waffles with syrup.

  Today, with three of our mortal employees in California and Marco still watching the Emporium compound with Ritter and Jace, only a few of us—all Unbounded—were present. I’d taken longer than expected in the shower, and Ava, Dimitri, and Stella were already finishing their meal when Mari and I entered.

  Stella came to stand with me by the buffet as I picked up a plate. She looked the perfect business woman in her crisp, black pin-striped suit that couldn’t hide her slender curves.

  “Dimitri told me you did well with the sai this morning. Well enough that you should keep them on you.”

  “I have them.” I opened my long coat and showed them to her. Today I wore black skinny jeans that I’d dressed up with a silky blue top and high heeled boots in deference to a possible meeting with the Emersons. The outfit wasn’t as conducive to battle as my catwoman suit, but any weapons I couldn’t hide in the boots, my pockets, or under my blouse, were stuffed into inner pouches of my leather coat. That included the sai in their special pockets.

  “They’re fun,” I told Stella. “I thought the dull tips would make them useless, but I took away Dimitri’s staff every time.”

  “Too bad I missed it, but I was doing more research on the Emersons for you. I’ve forwarded everything you need to know about them to your phone.”

  “Thanks.” I started to close my coat when Stella reached out to touch one of the sai.

  “These remind me of the sai Ritter has. We haven’t trained with them lately, but that leather wrapping is similar.”

  “He gave these to me, so maybe that’s why they look familiar.”

  Stella blinked and glanced over her shoulder at the others who were chatting near the dining table. “He gave them to you? When?”

  “Last night. They’re Chinese. Said I needed to train on something new. I think he’s tired of my machete.” I grinned but Stella didn’t return the smile.

  “I see.”

  Her knowing tone annoyed me. Normally I’d let it pass, especially since she was still recovering from losing both her husband and her unborn child, but something about Ritter giving me his sai did seem rather odd. Why hadn’t he simply found a pair in the arsenal we always carried with us?

  “You see what?” I asked.

  She leaned in and took my hands. “Has he given you anything else?”

  “A ballistic knife last week. Seems to think I’ll do better with that since throwing knives isn’t my thing. Why?” I could feel the weight of the knife in my boot. It could shoot an easy eighteen feet at the press of a trigger.

  “Is the blade black and does it have a dragon on the hilt?” she asked.

  “Yeah. Is that significant?”

  “Stella?” Ava called from near the door. “Are you coming? We really should get going if we intend to arrive in Providence on schedule.”

  That must mean Dimitri had been able to get some kind of appointment. “Wait,” I said. “What about the knife?”

  Stella squeezed my hands. “We’ll talk when I get back. Good luck today. Be careful.”

  “You, too.” I watched them leave.

  Mari sauntered toward me. “What was all that about? You and Stella.”

  “I don’t know.” I scooped eggs from the warmer onto my plate.

  “Are you really going to take all those weapons to the Emersons? What if they ask for your coat?”

  “First of all, we don’t know we’re going to wherever the Emersons are staying. Cort said during workout that Keene was still calling. So if we’re out stalking the city for them, I want to be prepared.”

  Mari put five pieces of bacon on her plate. “This is so great. I never used to be able to eat this way. Always worried I’d gain weight.”

  I took three waffles, and then added a fourth. Why not? I’d work it off in less than half an hour or my body wouldn’t absorb any more until the extra calories were gone. A healthy serving of syrup and a glass of fresh orange juice with plenty of pulp topped it all off.

  We’d barely sat down when Oliver entered, wearing dark brown pants and a multi-colored button-up shirt with the cuffs open and turned back. His dark face was newly shaven and his curly hair cropped short. Though he also had Asian blood and his mother was half white, his African American heritage was more prominent. He was tall and muscular, a fine specimen of a man—if he didn’t open his mouth or if you didn’t watch him in training. Even Mari, who was a lot smaller and several weeks newer than he was, could best him.

  “Good morning, lovely ladies,” he said, strolling to the buffet.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be back at the compound?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “Ritter hasn’t called, so I’m waiting.”

  Mari looked at me and rolled her eyes. By unspoken agreement, we began eating faster. “Maybe I should call Cort and see if Keene has anything for us,” I said.

  “Good idea.” Mari pushed a full strip of bacon into her mouth. “I’m almost finished.”

  Almost wasn’t fast enough, and before long Oliver sat opposite us, his plate loaded. “Girls, I need your opinions.”

  I groaned internally. When Oliver started asking for our opinion, invariably it would be about women and would gross us out or make us want to kill him. Maybe tomorrow, I’d work out with him. Accidentally slip with the new sai and give him something real to talk about.

  “It’s Chloe.” He stopped talking to shovel in a forkful of eggs, followed by a quarter of a waffle.

  Chloe was the New York Unbounded gifted in dancing. I hadn’t seen her perform, but I hoped I’d have the opportunity. Some people believed dancing was actually a variation of the combat ability, which in turn was a derivative of one main physical ability. A thousand or more years ago before the worst battles began between the Emporium and the Renegades, the artistic abilities had been highly valued.

  I drank my juice and waited until Oliver swallowed.

  “A woman like that,” he mused, “must have a lot of experience. A hundred years of experience. I wonder if she’d give me lessons.”

  Dare I ask? Mari beat me to it. “Dancing lessons?”

  Oliver shook his head. “I mean in the bedroom. All those admirers and her incredible sex appeal. I’m sure she knows things I’ve never dreamed of.” He leered. “And I’m a pretty good dreamer. Maybe I’d even teach her a thing or two.”

  “Ooooh!” Mari jumped up from the table. “Every time I even begin to think that you can’t stoop any lower, you prove me wrong.” She looked at me. “Erin, I’m going to find Cort.”

  Even as she spoke, Cort appeared in the doorway. He wore nothing but black pants, and his bare chest looked more than twice its real size. His brown hair swept back from his face, and he didn’t look nerdy in th
e least. “Mari, you called?” he said. “Don’t worry. I’m here. Yes, I’ll give you lessons in the bedroom.”

  No real emotion emerged from the apparition, and it acted so unlike Cort that Mari and I both knew it was a fake, despite the heady aroma of expensive cologne that the real Cort did wear, though never so much of it.

  “Or how about this?” Oliver snapped his fingers and a new Cort replaced the old. This time he was fully dressed, slightly hunchbacked, and wore glasses. His shirt was buttoned clear to the top and his dress pants were a little short. It was Cort as he might have been if he were a contemporary mortal.

  “Mari,” said the image, not quite meeting her eyes. “Would you . . . uh, consider going out with me?”

  With a frustrated growl, a flushed Mari ran past the apparition to the door.

  “Come back, come back,” the illusion shouted after her. “Please don’t leave me!”

  I glared at Oliver. “What’s that all about? Are you ever going to grow up?”

  “Why?” He shrugged. “I have enough time, right? Besides, if she’d only admit to herself that she likes him, it wouldn’t bother her.”

  Mari liked Cort? I wasn’t aware of any attraction between them. In the beginning, Jace had tried to flirt with Mari, and she’d rebuffed him. I told him she needed time to mourn her jerk of a husband.

  “Don’t do it again,” I told him.

  “Who’s going to stop me?” He said it casually, not really a challenge. That he should have such a useful and powerful ability made me furious.

  I pushed my thoughts out to him, swiping at his shield, which he’d never completely mastered anyway. I will, I said in his mind. I was tempted to do more, to thrust my hands in the stream of his thoughts to warn him, but I hesitated at touching anything. I didn’t like Oliver, but I didn’t want to damage him permanently.

  Now he was glaring at me, and trying to push me out. I smiled. He couldn’t get rid of me, and I knew just the way to teach him a lesson, one taught me by the master of control herself, Delia Vesey. I concentrated hard on his hand and it shot out toward the juice, knocking it over.

  A horrified expression filled his face. “You!” he said, yanking back his hand.

  I nodded. “Yes, me. You aren’t the only one with an ability.” I wanted to do something more, but I felt guilty already. He was an idiot, but he was our idiot, and I preferred to practice on people who had consented. Besides, I still wanted to try channeling his ability—when he calmed down—and doing so would be easier if he could walk me through how he created his illusions. I had an idea that might help us free our prisoners, if I could get Ritter and Ava to sign off on it.

  “Goodbye, Oliver.” I pulled my thoughts from his, ignoring the anger. A little humiliation was good for the man. Good for all men, in fact. But I’d probably have to apologize later to gain his cooperation. “Try not to annoy anyone else today.”

  He brought up his middle finger and flipped me off, a smile plastered on his handsome face.

  “How very human of you,” I couldn’t help saying.

  In the hallway, I reached out again, searching for Mari’s mental signature. I found her down a floor, probably looking for Keene in the infirmary. But there were no other life forces on that floor. I hurried to the stairs and sprinted down them, taking two at a time. When I emerged, she was already heading back to the elevator.

  “Hi, Erin.” She didn’t quite meet my gaze.

  “I think Keene is upstairs in Cort’s office.”

  “I should have checked there first.”

  I laughed. “No, he should be here, but since he’s an idiot, like most men, he’s probably not resting.”

  We’d reached the elevator and she jabbed her finger at the button. “I’d say you pretty much described all Unbounded, not just the men.” Her smile returned. “You know, I used to like vacations, but now the idea of sitting around on a beach seems rather dull.”

  “Give it a few months.” Because sitting around on a beach without worrying about what the Emporium was up to sounded like heaven to me.

  “Okay. Then maybe we’ll go together. Somewhere warm.”

  I waited until the elevator opened on the third floor to say, “I warned Oliver to keep his trap shut.”

  Her face whipped to mine. “You threatened him?”

  “Kind of.” My muscles tightened waiting for her disapproval.

  “Oh, Erin. You’re the best!” She hugged me before exiting the elevator.

  “I don’t know about that.” I wanted to ask about her and Cort, to know if she really did have a thing for him, but I’d just pay attention and wait for her to come to me. She’d been seriously broken up by her husband’s death, and I wasn’t about to add to her pain. Hopefully, his betrayal was helping her get over him quickly.

  In Cort’s office, Keene sat on the shiny brown leather couch, fully dressed in gray jeans and a long-sleeved, white V-necked T-shirt, topped by a gray suede vest. I was relieved to see him looking so well after last night’s adventures.

  Cort looked up from his desk and cleared his throat. “Ah, there you are.”

  I took a seat on the couch while Mari ignored the chairs and perched on the arm next to me. “Missed you both at workout this morning,” I said.

  Cort shrugged. “I did it last night. Couldn’t sleep with all the excitement.”

  “As for me,” Keene said with a lazy expression, “I was just playing hooky.”

  I stifled a smile. “How do you feel?”

  “Fine, thanks to Dimitri and Cort.” He met my gaze briefly before looking away.

  “Should you be up?” Mari asked.

  “Well, we have a visit to make, don’t we?” Keene stared down at the phone in his hand. I couldn’t see what was on it, but apparently it was fascinating.

  “Sorry,” I said. “You’re not going. Ava’s orders. Mari and I can shift out if we have to, but you’ll be a liability.”

  “Then you grab me and take me with you. I know shifting is limited to what you can carry, but if you’re linked with Mari and shifting together, the two of you should be able to take us at least to the next room.”

  During our practice the past few weeks, we’d been successful at doing that with Jace, but it hadn’t been easy. Alone, Mari hadn’t shifted Jace more than a few steps. “What if that’s not far enough? You can’t fight anyway. Not with that hole in you. What if you get us all killed?” Or worse, captured.

  Keene’s eyes narrowed. “I won’t. But if that’s the way you want to play it, good luck. Let me know how it goes.” He shut off his phone, put it in his pocket, and arose, the stiffness in his body belying the casual words.

  “What about the introduction?” Mari said.

  Keene smiled. “Only if I go with you.”

  “No,” I said at the same time Mari said, “Okay.”

  I glanced at Cort, lifting a hand in appeal, but he shook his head with obvious enjoyment. “I’ve given up trying to talk sense into him. He has never listened to his older and wiser brother.”

  “My ancient brother is too conservative,” Keene retorted. “Besides, you need me, Erin. There are certain handshakes and so forth that you don’t have time to learn.”

  I rolled my eyes. “What are they, Masons?”

  “Kind of.”

  I came to my feet, facing him. “You almost died last night. You should be in bed, not visiting Hunters. What if that Unbounded with Emerson attacks us?”

  Keene took a step. “Then I’ll watch you dispatch him.” He shook his head and blew out a sigh. “Look, with me there, nothing will go wrong—we’ll be their allies not their enemies. Besides, Dimitri patched me up great. I’m at least as well as I’d have normally been in three or four days with any ordinary doctor.”

  “Really?” This I put to Cort, because while Keene didn’t lie, he might not understand Dimitri’s ability.

  Cort nodded. “Dimitri is that good, and my brother is that stupid.”

  Mari let out an amused sno
rt.

  “Besides,” Cort said, hesitating, “we also tried out some other things we’ve been working on with nanites and regeneration since he couldn’t protest.”

  It was Keene’s turn to roll his eyes. “Guess I’m a guinea pig. So what’s the verdict? Are you coming or am I doing this alone?”

  I could call Ava and she’d set this to rights in an instant, but I didn’t want to be someone who always went running to her. I had to learn to fight my own battles, and that meant weighing Keene’s stubbornness against my desire to fulfill the mission. The mission had to come first.

  “Okay,” I said. “You come. But after we’re in, you follow my lead. I’ll know what they’re thinking.”

  Was that worry emanating from Cort? Did he feel I’d made the wrong decision? Or was he simply tired of losing siblings?

  Cort caught my gaze and the emotions vanished. He had one of the strongest shields in our group, and if I wanted, he’d let me try to break in, but now wasn’t the time to practice.

  Grunting in approval, Keene swept up his coat from the couch and headed for the door. He moved carefully but without any visible sign of pain. His torso had more bulk than I remembered, probably from the layers of bandages under his shirt. Mari hurried after him.

  I followed them, pausing at the door. “You watching Oliver today?” I asked Cort.

  His mouth twitched. “Yes. We’re going to run through a few practice illusions before we take our turn at the compound.”

  “That’s actually something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.” I glanced at Keene and Mari. “Can I have a moment? I need to run something past Cort. I’ll be right down.” Curiosity peeled from both of them, but neither voiced it, so I pretended not to notice.

  “Sure, I need to get a gun anyway,” Keene said.

  “And how about more of those nano knives?” Mari suggested.

  Keene shook his head. “I doubt he’ll have a metal detector, so regular knives will do, and if I give him the right codes, we may not even be searched.”

  “After what happened at the hotel last night, he might be more careful,” Mari said.

  “We’ll see.”

  I shut the door as they turned away. Cort leaned back in his seat, watching me as if I were one of his science projects, which I supposed I was. He’d been a constant in my life since my Change, drilling me on my experiences as a sensing Unbounded, teaching me about my new life, and planning multiple tests for my ability. But most of all, he was my friend.