by K. J. McPike
“Yeah, why’d we have to leave in such a hurry?” Dixon asked.
“And who was that at Nelson’s?” Ulyxses chimed in.
Salaxia didn’t bother asking anything; she just squinted at me, and I knew what she was trying to do.
“Hey.” I nudged her, hoping it would jar her out of her projection so she couldn’t see my thoughts before I was ready to share them. “Stay out of my head. Just sit down and I’ll tell you everything.”
“Uh oh,” Salaxia muttered. “This can’t be good.” She and my brothers made their way over to the table to join Oxanna, and all of them looked at me like they were expecting me to announce that the apocalypse was upon us.
I pursed my lips. I knew they weren’t exactly going to welcome Kai with open arms after what he’d done, and I didn’t blame them. But I didn’t want to hide anything. I couldn’t be honest with many people in my life, and I had sworn to myself that I would always be honest with my brothers and sisters, no matter what.
Bracing myself for a load of vitriol, I leaned against the counter and said, “That was Kai who came by Nelson’s.”
“What?” Oxanna nearly dropped Gottfried. “You’re still talking to Kai?”
I held up my palms, recoiling from her accusing glare. “I wasn’t. Trust me, I’m just as surprised as you. But his sister is in danger, and he needs my help.”
“Helping him is what almost got us killed before, remember?” Dixon grumbled. He narrowed his eyes at me, as if I were a traitor for even considering this. But what kind of person would I be if I didn’t?
“Kala’s in danger,” I repeated, louder that time. “I get that you’re mad at Kai—I am, too—but Kala has nothing to do with what he did. She doesn’t deserve to die because of his mistakes.”
“Die?” Ulyxses fell back into his chair. “Why would she die?”
I bit my lip, suddenly unsure if it was a good idea to tell them everything. I didn’t want Solstice’s blackmail attempt to scare them, but they deserved to know what we were up against. And Kai wasn’t going to turn them in. Once he and I got Kala out of the lab, any threat to kill her was moot.
“They’re gonna kill her?” Salaxia cried.
My arms dropped to my sides. “Seriously, Sal?” I glared at her, regretting the day I’d helped her figure out how to trigger her projections. Why did the nosiest person alive have to end up with the ability to read minds?
“You were taking too long,” she countered. Her skinny shoulders sank until they almost touched the table. “The suspense was killing me.”
Oxanna rolled her eyes. “You don’t even know what suspense means.”
“I do too!”
“You guys, be quiet for a minute.” Ulyxses turned back to me, his narrow face twisted in concern. “Why are they going to kill Kala?”
Well, there was no point in leaving anything out now. Taking a deep breath, I explained everything Kai had told me. When I’d finished, everyone sat in silence for a long moment. I hoped that meant they’d quit crucifying me for wanting to help.
Oxanna regained her composure first, tossing a handful of dark hair over her shoulder. “How do you know he’s telling the truth?” she asked. “He’s, like, the king of lies.”
“I just know.” I met her gaze with a firm one of my own. There was no doubt in my mind that Kai was being honest. I’d never seen him so distraught.
Salaxia’s hand shot into the air. “I could tell you if he’s lying.”
“I really doubt he’d make that whole thing up,” Ulyxses said.
Dixon glared at them both. “Whose side are you guys on?”
“The side of making sure his sister doesn’t die,” Ulyxses fired back. “Lali’s right—Kala didn’t make Kai do anything. It’s not her fault.”
Kai appeared next to me then, and I let out a yelp. So much for the block keeping out unwanted visitors. That stupid necklace was only making it easier for Kai to be a thorn in my side.
Gottfried jumped off Oxanna’s lap, howling at the top of his lungs. A small line of hair stood up along his back, and I sighed.
“Come on, Gotty.” I opened the door and dragged the dog outside to put him on the leash alongside our house. He didn’t stop barking as I pulled the door closed again, but at least his commotion was muted.
I turned back to face the group. Oxanna and Dixon were eyeing Kai like he carried the plague, while Ulyxses gave him a look somewhere between sympathy and fear.
Meanwhile, Salaxia smiled and waved as if he were a long-lost friend. “Hi, Kai,” she chirped. “Long time, no see.”
He gave her a weak smile. “Hi.” His eyes shifted to the rest of my siblings, and his angular features fell again. Still, he managed a somewhat convincing, “Nice to see you all.”
“Wish we could say the same,” Oxanna mumbled.
“Stop it.” My firm tone surprised both of us. “This isn’t the time to be petty.”
“Kai understands why you’re mad, Oxie,” Salaxia announced. “And he hates himself more than you ever could.”
“Sal.” I gave her a warning look.
She pouted. “Well, you let me read his mind before.”
Ugh. That had been totally different. I’d still had to work with Kai right after I found out he was the one who took our mother, and I asked Salaxia to use her ability so we would know he was telling the truth. I was too upset to believe anything that came out of his mouth at that time.
“Besides, Oxie wanted to know if he was lying,” Salaxia added.
I let my head fall back. “He’s not lying.”
“I know,” she said with a smug smirk. “And he never wanted to hurt any of us. And Lali, he misses you and still loves you.”
“Salaxia!” My cheeks caught fire. Leave it to her to pull open that old wound.
“Okay,” Ulyxses interjected. “How exactly are we supposed to help Kala?”
I shook my head. Last time they’d gotten involved, I came way too close to losing them. “You guys aren’t doing anything,” I insisted. “I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“Well, we don’t want you getting hurt, either,” Dixon argued.
“And my astral form is invincible,” Oxanna reminded me.
She had a point: her astral form was essentially an indestructible body double. Even so, I didn’t want her or any of my family members getting involved any more than they already were.
“I’m just going to help Kai get a look at Kala so he can project to her.” I stepped up beside Kai, who hadn’t moved from in front of the sink since he arrived. “That’s all he needs.”
Salaxia frowned. “Why can’t we help? We can be heroes, too.”
“I’m not going to be a hero,” I said. “But if you want to help, you can try and think of a way to get this necklace on my invisible astral form. I still haven’t figured that out yet.”
We all scanned the kitchen as if it might hold the answer. A dish towel tucked into the handle of the refrigerator caught my eye, and an idea popped into my head.
“Actually…” I moved to tug the towel out of place. “This could work.” Stepping into the middle of the kitchen, I spread the towel out across the floor. “I’ll position my astral form right above this. If I stand next to it in my physical body, you can get a good idea of where my astral head will be, right?”
Kai nodded eagerly. “Yeah, that should work.”
I hope so.
No one spoke as I closed my eyes and pictured the table in front of me. It felt silly to envision something only a few yards from where I stood, but I needed my astral form to appear near my body. Since my projections made me show up next to whatever or whomever I saw in my mind’s eye, picturing an object or a person within close proximity to my body was the only way I knew to ensure that happened.
I focused on the image of the table behind my eyelids and quickened my breathing to replicate the choppy inhales that accompanied fear. Making myself dwell on the terror I would feel if the Eyes and Ears captured my family, I
heard the familiar buzzing in my head. My body went rigid as every part of me vibrated uncontrollably. The hum built up to a deafening roar, the volume increasing until it felt like my skull might burst.
Then I was in my astral form. It took a moment for the blackness clouding my vision to fade and the images of the kitchen to come into focus. Once I could see clearly, I turned toward my physical body.
My heart-shaped face looked peaceful, the deep olive skin framed by long dark hair with blue low-lights peeking through the ends. Though my serene expression made it seem like I was doing some kind of standing meditation, the sight freaked me out. Seeing myself from the outside would always be weird, especially because I typically projected to people and places that weren’t near me.
At least, I had when I was projecting regularly. Lately, I hardly used my ability at all. It was part of my failed attempt to keep my life as normal as possible.
So much for that.
Scowling at the thought, I moved toward the towel on the floor and lined myself up shoulder-to-shoulder with my physical body, careful not to touch it. I didn’t know if contact from my own body would suck me back into it or send me flying the way bumping into other people did, but now wasn’t the time to test it.
Straightening up, I waited for Kai. He stayed still, staring at the place just above the designated spot while my brothers and sisters watched from behind him.
Oxanna drummed her fingers on the table, her cheek smashed against the palm of her other hand. “You know, if Lali’s astral form were cool like mine, we’d be able to tell when she was ready.”
No one else seemed to pay her comment any mind, but I had to admit that I wished my astral form were tangible. As it was, the best I could do when I projected was be an invisible witness. I had no way of intervening or being helpful. But hopefully, my astral form would come in handy when it came to getting Kala out of Alea.
Another minute passed before Kai pulled the necklace over his head. “Well, here goes nothing.” Keeping his arms in the air so the stone dangled between his wrists, he inched forward until his face was almost touching my astral one. Being so close to him made my mind flash back to when he first kissed me. Even in my unfeeling astral form, I could have sworn I got tingly just remembering.
No! Stop it! I forced away the memory. Physical attraction or not, I couldn’t trust him. He was too good of a liar, and I knew he would always lie to get his way.
Always.
Kai lowered the chain toward me slowly, but his forearm brushed the side of my astral head. The contact repelled me just enough to push me out of position.
Crap. I tried to get back in place above the towel, but his hand bumped my cheek. I flew back into the counter, which only repelled me again until I ended up by the sink. Letting out a frustrated cry, I dove forward to try and catch the necklace around my head. Kai’s bicep connected with my shoulder, and my astral form bounced back into the refrigerator.
“Ugh!” I righted myself in the air and threw back my head. This was going to be impossible with Kai acting blindly. We needed another plan. Slipping back into my physical body, I reached out to stop Kai in the middle of his attempts to position the necklace.
He jolted on contact. “You hardly gave me a chance to get the thing on you,” he protested.
“I tried,” I told him. “But every time you missed, you repelled my astral form and sent me flying.”
Kai let his hands fall to his sides, the necklace dangling just above the tile floor. Seeing the disappointment on his face sent a hollow feeling through me. I didn’t want anything to happen to his sister, but I couldn’t change the way my astral form worked.
“Okay.” He squinted at me, accentuating the shadows that had formed beneath his eyes. “Can you project me to the outside of the lab?”
My stomach flopped. “What? Why?” I didn’t want to go anywhere near that awful place—even if it was just in astral form.
“Because I can’t find it on my own. I’ve tried, but I have no idea where it is. If you give me an exterior to work with, I can find a way inside.”
“That’s way too dangerous.” I cringed internally at the concern that crept into my voice. But no matter how angry I was with Kai, I didn’t want him to get himself killed or trapped inside the lab. I knew they experimented on semmies there and tried to make them use their abilities on twisted assignments. “Even if you manage to get inside without getting caught, I don’t remember how to get to the room where I saw Kala.”
“Try,” Kai pleaded, gripping the edge of the sink behind him. “It was only a month ago.”
“Wait,” Ulyxses called out, reminding me that my brothers and sisters were still in the kitchen with us. I’d almost forgotten. “If Lali saw her in the past…” His face lit up. “Dix, maybe you can project Kai into Lali’s past so he can see Kala.”
I gasped. “Actually, that could work.” My eyes snapped over to Dixon. “Kai just needs to see Kala for a bit so he can memorize her face. It’ll be just like when you projected me to the past so I could get a look at Ursula and track her.” It felt like a lifetime ago that Dixon had taken me back in time so I could study the last member of XODUS we needed to find, but it had been an effective way for me to learn her features so I could project to her. There was no reason it couldn’t work just as well for Kai to do the same with his sister.
“Okay.” Dixon shrugged. “I’ll try.”
“What about the block?” Oxanna asked. “You said there’s one around the lab, and Dix got thrown into a wall when he tried to project into Mom’s past while she was behind a block.”
“Oh yeah.” Salaxia grimaced. “I remember that.”
I hesitated, suddenly doubting the plan. There was no block between him and me right now, but I couldn’t be sure if one in my past would stop him while he was projecting through time.
“I’ll risk it,” Dixon said before we could debate the issue. “Hitting a block is nothing compared to losing a sister.” He shared a glance with Kai, and the gratitude in Kai’s eyes almost brought tears to mine. “I just need you to describe where you saw Kala so I know when to stop.”
The memory flashed behind my eyes like it had countless times in my nightmares. I’d seen Kala the first time I went to Alea—right after the Astralii guards caught me with a net that somehow prevented me from projecting. They delivered me straight to Arlo, the sadistic Astralis who seemed to be in charge at the lab. He’d taken a sick pleasure in the idea of breaking my will and forcing me to use my ability to do his bidding. Just the thought of his cruel black eyes and snow-white beard made me shudder.
Fighting the mental image, I forced myself back to the present. “If you follow my past, you’ll see me balled up in a net and being carried by two Astralii guards in astral form,” I told Dixon. “The whole lab is metallic, and they took me to some sort of classroom with a huge, white-bearded guy at the front. There will be a girl who runs up to the front of the class with the same bronze skin and green eyes as Kai. She has long dark hair, and she can’t be that much older than you, Dix.” I glanced at Kai. “Kala’s what, fourteen?”
“Since January.” He knotted his fingers, pulling them so tight I thought they might break.
“Okay, so I’m stopping when I see Lali in a net, a Santa-looking dude, and a girl who looks like Kai,” Dixon recapped. “Got it.” He stood up and reached his hand out, and Kai raced over to take it.
They both closed their eyes, and I held my breath. I didn’t know what we would do if the block kept Dixon from seeing Kala. How else could we make this work? My gaze traveled from sibling to sibling. Ulyxses could project to the future, but that wouldn’t do any good in this situation. Oxanna’s astral body double and Salaxia’s mind-reading weren’t going to help us get to Kala, either. Dixon was our only hope.
Sliding into one of the empty chairs, I studied my brother in search of some clue to indicate how it was going. But his long face stayed relaxed, giving nothing away. I counted to thirty and told myself
if he hadn’t hit the block yet, he wasn’t going to. But my stomach still twisted itself into a pretzel.
After what felt like an eternity, I heard Kai suck in a sharp breath. His eyes flew open, blinking back moisture as he tried to find his voice. “I…I saw her.”
“It worked?” I stared between him and Dixon, my mouth agape.
Kai moved his head up and down, his eyes staring vacantly.
Salaxia clapped her hands. “Yay! You can go save her now!”
“Just give him a minute.” I reached across the table to pat her arm. “He’s been waiting a long time for this.”
“No.” Kai shook himself out of his daze. “I’m fine. I’m ready.” He squeezed his eyes shut, and the reality of what had just happened hit me all at once. I knew Kai’s power could get him in and out of there quickly, but I also knew he was going into a situation that could easily go awry. Kala could be in a prison, surrounded by armed Astralii for all we knew.
“Wait.” I jumped to my feet. “You have to assess everything before you just show up.”
“I’ll be okay,” he said. “I’m gonna preview her to see what I’m up against, and I’ll be in and out before anyone knows what happened.” His voice sounded confident, but his face told a different story.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I just…I don’t wanna scare her,” he whispered. “If I grab her without warning, she’ll think I’m the bad guy.”
His words threw me. He hadn’t worried about scaring me when he kidnapped me from school a few months ago. Maybe he really was trying to change.
“It’s better to scare her for the sake of keeping her safe, isn’t it?” Dixon looked up at Kai, his head barely up to Kai’s shoulder. “If I were her, I’d prefer scared to dead.”
“And we can help you explain,” Ulyxses offered. “Dix could take her into the past and show her exactly what happened.”
“And I can project her into your mind to show her you’re telling the truth,” Salaxia added.
