by Jenn Nixon
“We can’t leave without Valtor, and these three need medical attention. We do need backup.”
“That’s my code name,” Lexa said, appearing beside Kim and instantly frowning. “Ah, nuts.”
“Thank you for coming,” Liam said as the mood soured.
“Give us a ride back to base?” Kim asked then glanced over her shoulder to him. “You got this right?”
“Yes, go, I’ll call for Hinta,” Liam said and teleported behind Theo as he mentally reached out to the Vepsatian. “Do you have a line on Val?”
Theo nodded. “I think he’s in their lab with two others, the remaining three are near the generator.”
“Good, let’s go take them down. Hinta will meet us there,” Liam replied.
Theo vanished.
When he reappeared outside, two of the three Phoenix guards were standing around the busted electrical box Theo blasted while the last talked with someone on his phone. Liam felt the energy building around the Cartuilan as he rubbed the tips of his fingers together to strengthen the force of his newfound ability.
Calling his forward, Liam’s hand sparked with blue electricity.
The moment Hinta appeared behind the group on the opposite side, Liam grinned. Now!
Hinta teleported to the solitary guard and blasted him back with a telekinetic shove. Liam knocked him out with a pinpoint light strike to his temple.
Theo’s energy shot knocked the man nearest the electrical box on his ass.
The last left standing shot a wide-nosed weapon at Hinta who teleported out of harm’s way and landed between the two groaning men.
“Knock them out,” Liam said, as he targeted the last man with a mixture of his abilities, forcing the light strike faster with a telekinetic push.
Hinta punched one in the jaw while Theo energy blasted the second.
“How many left?” Hinta asked, glancing around at the fallen guards.
“Two inside with Valtor,” Theo answered as he walked around zip tying all the men’s hands together. “Doubt any of these guys are Gardner, we need to get back inside.”
“Agreed,” Liam said, turning to Hinta. “Can you—”
“Consider it done, Jazara is already at the shuttle, figured we don’t need to watch the apartment anymore.”
“True,” Theo added and approached with his hand out to shake. “Thanks for the help.”
“Anytime,” Hinta replied with a slight smile. “Go, I got this.”
Liam nodded, placed his hand on Theo’s shoulder to cloak them both again, this time letting the Cartuilan do the teleporting.
They reappeared in the lobby and took the opposite hallway. Theo teleported them to the end, flooded with more red emergency lights, which led to another unmarked set of doors. Liam sensed a muted Valtor behind the second door and held up his fingers to tell Theo.
We can teleport through. You ready?
Liam nodded. Yes.
Before either of them had the chance to move, Valtor’s agonizing scream vibrated through the walls. With his heart in his stomach, Liam gripped Theo’s shoulder to keep the cloak strong and teleported into the room, completely unprepared for what awaited them.
***
Having extra people in the base made it harder for Dina to concentrate after her last episode. Each time someone new came in, she felt a flash in her head and did her best to ignore it, aware Caelum had more than an eye on her.
When the corner of his brow lifted, she narrowed her gaze on him, wondering if he was keeping his word. She’d never know otherwise, he was practically omnipotent, even if he sucked at finding people and keeping time and sometimes had horrible manners.
“How’s my father?” she asked, hoping to keep her mind focused.
“He seems to be waking up slowly, nothing to indicate he’s in immediate distress,” Caelum said in his most haughty taughty tone. For some reason, her brother and Lexa found it charming while she and Bates thought he came off like a snob most days.
After a few quiet minutes, Lexa got up from her seat cooing. “Think they found Zila and Marjorie.”
“Thank god,” Dina gasped.
“And another.”
“You’re sure, Lexa?” Duncan said.
Bates frowned. “Are you eavesdropping?”
“Just Kim, she said I…hang on, they need a ride.”
Dina shook her head when Lexa blipped away. Caelum sat a little straighter in his seat catching her attention. “Is it Pop?”
The Enhancer nodded, his silver eyes shimmering. “He’s awake, groggy, perhaps what they knocked him out with, there seems to be something more…”
“But he’s okay?”
“Yes.”
“Need some help in here!” Kim and Lexa called from the medlab.
Dina jerked in her chair. Her instinct was to go and help. Knowing she had Enhancer energy inside stopped her. She glanced over at Caelum, oblivious to anything around him. As she turned back to the empty base, she figured her brother or Bates would call her if needed. In the meantime, she reviewed the scans to see what had happened to Marjorie and the others and debated sending a text message to Sanjeeta.
“Val,” Caelum whispered.
Dina whipped her head around. “Is he okay?”
The silver shimmer appeared around the Enhancer and he didn’t respond.
“Hey,” Dina barked.
“So much pain,” Caelum said, breathing heavily.
“Bring him back, Caelum, now!” She rose from her seat, feeling her pulse rise and sweat form on her brow. Breathing became difficult. The panic filling her body seemed like an outside force. Dina didn’t understand it even as the sensation plagued her.
“I can’t lock onto him, but Liam is close.”
Her blue barrier snapped into place. Flashes of her father and Kim dying bombarded her thoughts. Dina shook her head, focusing. “Caelum!”
“Dina, don’t…” Duncan gasped from the back of the base.
“Pop’s in trouble.”
“Theo and Liam are there,” Duncan replied, approaching. “They just took out three guys with Hinta. Look at me sis.”
“He is slipping from my mind,” Caelum whispered.
“Pop!” Dina teleported forward and grabbed the Enhancer’s wrist. “Get them back, now!”
Caelum’s gaze went wide as he focused on her. The sky blue color he masked his eyes with flashed quickly. Her mind cracked. She winced and tightened her grip.
“You can’t leave, not again.” The words seemed foreign and familiar on her tongue.
“Shit,” Duncan spat and yelled for Lexa.
“I am…staying,” Caelum said, tilting his head to the side as his blue eyes flickered back to silver again. “Release my hand, Dina.”
“Not until you help me save them.”
“No,” the Enhancer shook his head. “Stop, this is…”
“What the fuck?” Lexa gasped from somewhere nearby almost drawing her focus from Caelum. “Duncan go, get Sanjeeta, now.”
Dina kept her gaze locked on the Enhancer. “How many more have to die before you help me?”
“I can’t interfere in human affairs.”
“Only when it benefits you, you mean,” Dina snarled and inched closer to his face.
“This man targeting you is human, Star-wielder, you know this.”
“Because of you and the emergence, reckoning, and your stupid prophecies. You already let my father, Kim, and Hinta die, do you want more death on your conscience?”
“I saved you, helped you when I was the cause. This is different. This may be the natural course of your planet.”
“Every psychic and visitor on the planet dying?” Dina felt the energy build around the Enhancer and knew exactly what he was trying to do, she shoved him into one of the stations and lifted her hand ready to knock him out if she had to.
“Perhaps.”
“Do you really believe that?”
“I am unsure, Dina, I have seen many things in my lifeti
me.”
“Help us.”
“I can’t,” he said.
Dina grunted. “Then I can’t let you go.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The panicked knock woke Sanjeeta from the dead sleep she fell into after crying for an hour. Patting her face awake as she padded to the door, she took a deep breath and glanced through the peephole. She jerked the door back. Duncan Ranger’s frown was all she needed to see to jump into action.
“One second,” she said and dashed to her bathroom to throw on some clothes really wishing she had that trick for a second. As she stumbled around her bed looking for shoes, she glanced over see the worry on Duncan’s face. “How bad is he?”
“Them,” he replied, deepening the frown. “Dina pulled him into her memories, they’re talking like…”
“Crap,” Sanjeeta huffed and stepped into a pair of sneakers then rushing to grab her purse on the way out. “At least he kept his word to go see you.”
“Liam was right, you were our best chance,” Duncan said, offering his hand. When she slipped it in, his calming energy surrounded her. “Ready?”
“Yes.”
The trip to New York oddly took longer than when she teleported with Caelum and it felt stranger, too. They ended up in the kitchen. The door to the base was wide open and buzzed with activity. Caelum and Dina were arguing inside.
“I can’t,” he said.
Dina grunted. “Then I can’t let you go.”
Sanjeeta ran in right behind Duncan and froze when he did.
Dina and Caelum, surrounded by a shield shimmering blue and silver, each had a palm full of crackling energy facing the other with eyes locked and glowing in their respective colors.
“Hey!” Lexa attempted to break through with a deep resounding call.
“You will not hurt me, Dina Ranger.”
Her eyes filled with tears as her face tightened and reddened. “If you don’t stay, if you don’t help, we’re all going to die. You can’t leave.”
“Release me!” Caelum’s order vibrated through the room.
“Help us!” Dina cried.
The energy in both their palms sparked and grew.
Sanjeeta felt the pit in her stomach double. “Stop!”
Both turned their head toward her.
Dina blinked. “Sandee?”
“How did you do that?” Caelum asked her as if he’d never seen her before.
Lexa and Duncan gasped.
“You need to…” Sanjeeta began, glancing to the other two unsure what to say.
Lower their shields. Lexa provided.
“Lower your shields, please, I’m here to help you,” she said, taking another step closer.
“Tell him to stay, Sandee,” Dina cried as her weaponized hand shook and crackled with energy. “He has to help us. He’s the only one who can.”
“We can’t make him, he has to decide for himself,” Sanjeeta said, shifting her gaze to Caelum, holding every thought and emotion in a very secure corner of her mind. “I’ll make it quiet, so you can think. Just lower the shield, Caelum.”
“How do you know my name?” He narrowed his gaze and the floor shook.
Confused, but certain the others would help if needed, Sanjeeta inched close enough to feel the heat of the barrier sizzle through the air. I know more than your name, Caelum. Look at me with your baby blues, remember what happens when we’re together, lower your shield.
Why are you familiar to me? His silver eyes brightened and he lifted his hand in her direction, to protect himself while keeping the other firmly locked on Dina’s chest.
Lower your shield.
Who are you? The walls shuddered.
“Sandee?” Lexa squeaked as Kim and Bates rushed out of the medlab with terror in their eyes. “Hurry.”
Please, Caelum, listen to me, I’m trying to help you.
No!
“Enhancer, lower your shield!” Sanjeeta’s body pulsed like a heartbeat. She heard a ringing in the back of her mind. Caelum’s eyes widened.
The silver of his shield vanished.
Dina jolted in place and released Caelum’s wrist causing her blue barrier to evaporate, too.
They both collapsed to the ground.
“Dina!” Duncan teleported to his sister’s side as Bates and Kim rushed over to help. Sanjeeta and Lexa reached Caelum at the same time.
“Are you okay?” the younger Enhancer asked as she checked Caelum’s pulse.
“A minor headache, it will pass,” Sanjeeta replied, glancing over to Dina. “What happened to them?”
Lexa filled her in on the last few hours with her usual rapid speech. “Soon as Caelum felt Valtor in trouble, Dina flipped out and then they started talking like she did with Theo, freaked out that he was leaving...”
“Thing is, he already agreed to stay,” Duncan said, as he held Dina’s head in his lap and Kim checked her pulse.
“He did?” Sanjeeta said, looking down at his face, unsure she wanted to risk touching him.
Bates elbowed Duncan. “Yes, and we have more good news.”
“You do?”
“We found Marjorie.” Duncan grinned.
She shuddered. “Are you fucking with me?”
“Did you just drop an f-bomb?” Lexa laughed.
“She’s in the medlab,” Duncan said, motioning with his chin.
Sanjeeta ran to the back of the base and into the medlab. Jazara’s mother, Zila, rested comfortably on a cot in the corner of the room while Marjorie and an unknown man occupied the two medbeds. Relief washed over her. She couldn’t have asked for a better outcome for Mrs. Allen.
She neared the medbed and grabbed Marjorie’s hand as tears rolled down her cheeks. Alive, but not completely well, the college student who set this strange part of her life into motion, breathed evenly on the bed, unresponsive to Sanjeeta’s hold and oblivious to her tears
A few minutes later, Kim walked in carrying a pitcher of water. She set it down on the table beside the man’s bed and smiled when Sanjeeta glanced over.
“Do you know what’s wrong with them?” she asked.
“Zila is drugged. Marjorie and the man have been exposed to the aerosol barainum weapon they hit Theo with, only this one is more potent.”
“And…their father? Valtor?”
“Not back yet,” Kim answered, frowning.
“How long do you think she’ll need to stay?”
“We hope only a day or two, until the toxin flushes out of her system.”
“I’ll have to tell her mother, soon. Maybe once she wakes.”
“Duncan and I aren’t going anywhere, you should be with Caelum,” Kim said, smiling a bit. “Everyone’s on call, but if we need you, we’ll let you know.”
Sanjeeta nodded, gazing down at Marjorie again, feeling a slight weight lift from her shoulder. “Thank you. And thank the others. I will, eventually of course, just let them know for now so in case I do forget—”
“No problem, Sandee, go…I promise, she’s in great hands.”
“Yes, I know,” Sanjeeta replied, returning the smile before ducking back into the main part of the base to see Dina sleeping on the couch in the lounge and Duncan, Lexa, and Bates chatting softly on the hub.
Lexa turned back first. “How’s she doing?”
“Kim says she needs a day or two,” Sanjeeta said, approaching the hub stairs, but not going up. “Where’s Caelum?”
“I sent him to Rivia’s ship.”
“Can you send me?”
“Are you sure? I have no idea where his head is going to be when he wakes,” Lexa said, her tone bordering on a warning
“Which is why I need to be there,” Sanjeeta replied, shrugging. “He obeyed me, Lexa, I’m his Conduit.”
“Yeah, you already have the silver rings around your eyes.”
“I do?”
“Yep. He’s still sleeping, but not for much longer.”
“I’ll take care of him, Lexa.”
“I kno
w you will. Good luck.”
Sanjeeta’s chuckle echoed through the cargo room of Rivia’s ship. The dim lights allowed her to see some of the golden letters on the wall. This time, she had a moment to look closely. They seemed familiar.
Caelum’s moaning in the distance rattled her bones. She ran through the portal door and into the middle of the ship, taking the corridor to his man-cave room, only he wasn’t there. Sanjeeta darted down the other way to the second area she hadn’t yet seen which turned out to be a tiny mess hall and kitchen, lavatory, and medical room. The Enhancer was on the floor of the medical room, leaning against the opened cabinet, strange looking bottles, and vials and supplies were scattered over his legs.
“Caelum?”
He glanced up at her with silver eyes. They narrowed again like they had in the base. Sanjeeta stepped back. He flashed to his feet, his gaze locked on hers. “I know you.”
“Yes.” She lifted her hand, trying to keep it from shaking. “You do.”
“Who are you?” he growled, shaking the entire ship as the silver shimmer surrounded his body.
Sanjeeta wasn’t afraid for her life. Deep inside she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. She was also aware his mind battled future memories that weren’t truly his yet. She had one chance to get through to him. One opportunity to make sure he stayed. Sanjeeta stepped closer, keeping her hand elevated and said the only thing she knew to awaken his mind. “I’m your Conduit, Enhancer. Take my hand, let me show you.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The anger and terror rolling off Theo matched his own as the two men torturing Valtor, with what looked like a combination of a police nightstick and a TASER, each struck him on the side of his body, making the elder Shrian wail again before falling unconscious on the medical bed. Liam lifted his hand and shot blue lightning across the room at the man on the left.
Theo teleported into the other man and exploded in a rage of flying fists and bone-breaking kicks.
“Where’s Gardner?” Liam roared, lifting his hand to the obstinate guard lying on his back and holding his stomach. Not a twinge of recognition filled his eyes. “Your boss?”
The man started to chuckle. Before Liam asked another question, Theo clocked the man across the jaw, knocking him out. Slightly annoyed, Liam sighed and rushed to Valtor’s side, pulled a pocketknife from his jeans and cut the straps around his right wrist.
