by Gun Brooke
“Give her enough room to breathe,” Gassinthea Tylio snarled. “You know better than to gawk at someone who’s ill.” Her minions withdrew, leaving room for Briar, who threw herself down next to Caya, pulling her sister into her arms.
“Sweetie. For the love of the Creator, you need to breathe. Please, Caya.” Tears rolled down Briar’s face.
Caya drew trembling breaths, and the bluish tint to her lips lessened. Suddenly her eyes snapped open, staring at something above Adina’s shoulder. “Fire…and he’s going to die…in the fire. In the long corridor with blue floor. Stop him. Briar, stop him.” Her voice, somewhere between a whimper and a moan, made Adina shift her gaze to Briar. What sort of seizure was this? Was Caya hallucinating?
“What is she saying? A fire?” President Tylio was still kneeling next to Caya and Briar. “What’s wrong, Ms. Lindemay?”
“She’s having a seizure. She’s had them since she was little.” Briar looked at Adina. “Please help me get her out of here.”
“I’ll call the medics—” Adina pulled at her communicator, but Briar stopped her.
“No! No. Just to our quarters. She’ll be fine once she’s in her own bed and can get some sleep.”
“Surely she requires medical attention,” President Tylio said, frowning. “This young woman is clearly in pain over what hallucinations she’s experiencing.”
“Leave the girl alone, Gassinthea. They clearly have the matter in hand.” The bored voice belonging to the president’s husband broke through their arguing.
President Tylio pivoted, looking irritated at her spouse’s words, but turned back to Caya when the young woman sat up, pointing at the startled man. “That’s him. You have to save him, Briar. I saw him in the explosion and he’s going to die. You have to save him. He’s the president’s husband, and he’ll die from his injuries after the explosion.”
Terror radiated from Briar as she pulled Caya into something that looked more like a death grip than an embrace. “Shh. Don’t talk, sweetheart.”
Adina knelt and put her arms around both of them. “What’s going on?” she said into Briar’s ear, making sure nobody else heard her. Caya was sobbing wildly now, clearly inconsolable.
Korrian and Meija were now at their side. “Please. Let us help you with Caya, Briar. We can carry her to the closest couch.” Meija stroked Briar’s back.
“Back off a little more, people.” Korrian made sure nobody stepped too close to either of the women surrounding Caya.
“What’s the girl on about?” the president’s spouse roared. “Is she threatening me?”
“No!” Briar cried out. “She’s not. She would never.”
“It sure sounded like a threat to me, the presidential spouse. That makes it a threat to the entire Oconodian nation.”
“Hadler! Enough.” President Tylio turned back. “We need to get Ms. Lindemay out of here. She’s clearly not well, and I will have my private physician examine her. As for her—”
“No, no, no!” Caya broke free from Briar’s grip and rose to her knees. Her makeup had smeared around her eyes, oddly enough making them look even bigger and more transparent. Her tousled hair framed her pale face, and the dress was now wrinkled and had fallen off one shoulder. “You don’t understand, Madam President. I am not hallucinating. Your husband will be assassinated, and he will perish from horrific injuries after an explosion in a corridor with a blue floor. You must let your guards make sure it is safe. I think it’s somewhere near your quarters. Please.”
“Oh, my.” Meija looked at Adina as if she suddenly understood. Adina could only try to shield Briar and Caya and force back dread about not understanding.
President Tylio’s mouth firmed into a fine line. “And how, exactly, would you know about such things, Caya?”
Briar moaned and fell back against Adina, who caught her. Trembling, Briar sobbed as she clutched at Adina’s arm. “Oh, no. Please, Caya. Don’t. Don’t.”
Caya turned to her sister briefly, and all signs of her having any sort of seizure were gone. She was pale and trembling, but also composed and focused. “It’s time, Briar,” she said mildly. “This is part of why I’m on this vessel. We just didn’t know.”
“No, sweetie, no. Don’t.” Briar clung to Adina, who did her best to try to follow the sisters’ enigmatic exchange.
“Go on, Caya.” Tylio looked at them through eyes like narrow slits. That didn’t bode well.
“You need to take any and all measures to safeguard Mr. Tylio. My visions are never wrong. Only lately have they become this clear, and I think it’s because the event is in the near future.”
“Visions.” Tylio stood but remained in place. “Are you claiming to be clairvoyant?”
“No. I’m not claiming anything.” Caya stood also and kicked off her shoes. Adina saw one of the heels was broken. Caya looked so small and frail among the crowd, who clustered in a tightly packed circle around her and the president, only barely pushed back by presidential guards and Korrian. “I am a changer and my gift is to see future events. While I was growing up, the visions were erratic and painful, but lately, they’ve become clear and easier to access. I’m telling you the truth.”
“A changer!” People withdrew several steps as if Caya had announced she was covered in white garnet and about to explode. “She said she’s a changer!”
Adina would normally have found it humorous how people could move like a school of fish when afraid of something. Now, they were on the verge of stampeding because of Caya and what she’d just said. Adina couldn’t grasp it, but the way Briar cried in her arms made her believe the young woman more than anything else.
“Security.” President Tylio waved some guards over. “Take this woman into custody but not the brig. Take her to my office. The conference room.” She pointed at Adina and Briar. “You as well, Nurse Lindemay.”
“I’m going too.” Adina didn’t make it a question, but Tylio responded as if she had.
“Why not? You’re their friend and know them well.” Tylio’s eyes, still narrow and suspicious, turned to the now-dispersed crowd. “Those of you who feel like continuing the festivities are welcome to do so. I have business to attend to. Good evening.”
The crowd murmured a polite response, but Adina already heard raised voices as the guards escorted them out of the hall. The last thing she heard before the door closed behind them was the outraged voice of a man.
“No matter what, any stowaway changer should be air-locked!”
Chapter Thirteen
Briar could hardly think straight. Panic rose and abated within her, over and over, making her nauseous. She couldn’t grasp what had happened at the president’s event. Her entire system was in panic mode, and it was all she could do not to grab Caya and make a run for it, as silly as that might sound, since there was nowhere to hide.
Caya looked eerily calm as she walked between four security guards. Back straight, head held high, she exuded a brand-new confidence and poise. Thinking back, Briar tried to remember when exactly this change had begun. Had it been an overnight transformation? She didn’t think so. After the sub-ink incident, Caya had withdrawn, not from Briar but from some of her friends. She had dedicated her time to her final year in school and a handful of friends, most among the younger Vantressas.
The guards stopped and turned right. They entered a new corridor and now Caya stopped, as did Briar. Illuminated from the white walls and ceiling, a brilliant blue color adorned the deck.
“This is it. This is the place.” Caya turned to the closest guard. “Are there any more corridors like this?”
“Keep walking,” the man said darkly.
“Answer me.” Caya spoke firmly, but her tone was non-threatening.
“This is the presidential blue.” Tylio had caught up with them. “Most corridors on this deck are painted like this.”
“Then it must be sealed off and searched.” Caya extended her hands toward the president. “Please. Listen to me.”
“You have a lot to explain, but not here. Keep walking, Ms. Lindemay.”
Her shoulders slumping, Caya resumed walking between the guards. Briar felt rooted in place, still dazed from the latest turn of events, but then a guard shoved her in the back and she stumbled forward.
“Ensign!” Adina’s voice was pure steel. “Do not manhandle any of the…witnesses. If you do, you will answer to the head of security. And to me.”
“Aye, sir.” The man glowered at Briar but merely motioned for her to keep walking.
At the other end of the long corridor, they reached the conference room, located next to the president’s office. Passing them, Tylio entered and took a seat at the head of the large oval table. “I want two guards on the door. The rest of you are relieved.”
“But, sir, protocol dictates we have at least one guard in the room with you in the presence of a threat.” The highest-ranking guard frowned.
“You are relieved. I don’t enjoy repeating myself, Lieutenant. I have Commander Vantressa here, and she will make sure everybody is quite safe, won’t you, Commander?”
“All of us, yes, Madam President.” Adina sat down next to Briar. Her close proximity helped her some when it came to keeping herself calm. “Before we address this issue, I have an important question.”
Tylio looked impatient for a moment but then nodded. “Go ahead.”
“Is this a formal hearing, Madam President? Because if it is, Caya and Briar are entitled to legal representation of their choosing.”
“No. This is not an official hearing, though I expect there will be one in the future. Right now I want Caya to tell me what is going on. If you indeed are a changer, how the hell did you make it onto the ship?”
“Madam President.” Caya had taken a seat at the table with one empty chair between her and Tylio. “I am a changer. As a child I was always intuitive, and it didn’t take my family long to realize I carried the mutated gene. My parents never showed any signs of their gene going active, nor did Briar.”
Until recently. Briar shuddered. “Why, Caya? Why did you tell everyone?” she whispered. “After all this time of keeping you safe…”
Caya turned her glance to Briar, her expression softening to one of adoration and love. “Briar, it isn’t as sudden as it seemed. I always knew that one day I’d see something I couldn’t keep to myself. This is my purpose, this gift that we always saw as a curse because that’s what our parents did. Now when my visions are getting much clearer, I’m obligated to share—to try to save lives.”
“You don’t realize what they’ll do to you.” Briar gripped Caya’s hands across the table. “We have all left Oconodos on a changer-free ship, as this was how our forefathers deemed it the only way to be safe.”
“And you have now jeopardized this journey, if Caya is not in fact delusional instead.” Tylio shot Adina a pointed glare. “Commander.” She nodded at Briar.
Adina put her arm around Briar’s shoulders and severed the physical connection between the sisters. “Let her explain, Briar.”
Pressing her knuckles against her mouth, Briar watched her little sister. Despite her petite frame, Caya didn’t look like a youngster gone a little wild anymore. Pale, yes, she was beyond pale right now, but otherwise, she met Tylio’s eyes with her own steady gaze.
“I pose no threat to you, the ship, or any of its passengers. I only wish to do what I can to help us reach P-105 safely.” Caya turned her hands, palms up. “In this case, I want to save your husband. He will die in an explosion unless you do something to change the variables of my vision.”
“What do you mean?” Tylio leaned forward, and for a moment Briar thought she might actually take Caya’s hands, but of course she didn’t.
“Change something about my vision, and that will take the predictability out of the equation. Change your husband’s location, have security search the corridor and the rooms along it…anything. Just do something.” Pleading now, Caya started to sound frantic.
“How did you get past the screening. Can you tell me that?”
“Wait.” Briar knew from the look on Caya’s face her sister was going to take all the blame for getting aboard Pathfinder. “I’ve been Caya’s guardian since our parents died. It was my idea and my plan to bring her with me. I had our DNA screens altered.”
“That’s impossible!” Tylio slammed her palm against the conference table. You didn’t have to be an empath to feel her frustration. “We made sure the system couldn’t be tampered with.”
“With the right connections and enough money to bribe the right people, it can be done.”
“Creator of all things.” Standing up, Tylio paced the length of the room a few times before she stopped, now staring at Briar, her eyes once again mere slits. “And then there’s you. What will we find when we test your DNA, Briar?”
“Nothing!” Caya and Adina blurted out the word at the same time.
“Really?” Tilting her head, Tylio leaned against the backrest of Caya’s chair, glaring at Briar. “Is this true?”
“No.” Briar freed herself from Adina’s arms, knowing she had no right to the comfort the woman she loved so willingly had supplied. “You will find I have the gene and it’s been activated. I haven’t reached my full potential, but I can feel it happening.”
“And what is your ‘gift’? Are you clairvoyant too?” Tylio didn’t move.
“No. Not at all. I’m an empath.”
“Oh, damn…Briar.” Adina’s voice broke and Briar felt her shudder.
“I’m sorry, Adina.” Tearing her gaze from Tylio’s, Briar turned to Adina. “I should’ve told you, but I couldn’t. If I’d told you and you’d felt compelled to keep my secret, three of us would be in trouble here.” She whirled back to the president. “Commander Vantressa had no knowledge of any of this. Nobody aboard knows. The people helping me are back on Oconodos.”
“They were changers?” Tylio asked.
“Yes.”
“And that’s how you circumvented the system?”
Briar rubbed her pounding temple. “Yes. But I won’t tell on them. Tonight…tonight should be about listening to Caya.”
“You’re suggesting I listen and heed the warning of a changer?” Tylio’s expression was as cold as if her soul had been hit by permafrost. “Oh, I can see this playing out for you. You have worked with the white-garnet gang and made sure we will find another contraption when we search the corridor. This will validate Caya’s ability, and she will gain quite some fame for saving the president’s spouse. An all-win situation, don’t you agree?”
Caya shook her head sorrowfully. “I can see where something callous like that could be true…if I was less than truthful, which I’m not, or had an agenda, but I don’t. I have never hurt a single person in my life, and I don’t intend to start now. I beg you to please, please, check for white garnet or other explosives. Surely the safety of your spouse is worth everything?” Caya looked up at Tylio, where she stood behind her chair.
Briar focused on the woman and was surprised at how hard she was to read at first. Perhaps the president had received training when it came to warding off intuitive people? Eventually, images of Tylio and her husband floated to the surface of Briar’s mind. She felt exasperation, even faint humiliation, on Tylio’s part and heard the echoes of angry voices. Then Tylio’s image was the only one present, accompanied by a thought of how she often pressed her fists against the sensitive part of her face beneath her eyes, as if trying to push the tears back into their ducts. So, this man, the scholar Tylio had married at the age of twenty-two, according to the official documents, made the most powerful woman among the Oconodians cry?
“Madam President,” Briar said, choosing her words carefully. “Don’t let twenty years of decreasing marital happiness cloud your judgment. You don’t feel for your husband the way you used to, and this is mainly his fault. Like some spouses, he finds it hard to deal with a strong partner’s professional success. You’ve been our president for
five years. During those years you’ve become a household name, much loved for the way you’ve conducted yourself and how you never steered away from the Exodus project. You’ve doubted yourself many times, and most of those instances have occurred because of something Mr. Tylio said. You can choose to stand by him or not, that’s your prerogative, but you cannot disregard the chance to save his life when it’s entirely possible.”
Adina slumped back in her chair, her hand over her mouth as she stared at Briar. “Red Angel,” she murmured huskily. “And here I thought you were merely a great caregiver.”
“What?” Tylio whispered. “Red Angel? Oh, for the love of…”
Caya looked at Briar with the same shock as Tylio expressed. “Sis?”
“I should’ve told you, sweetie, but I just couldn’t. I wasn’t sure and I…well, I was afraid of what it might mean. To me. To us. To my life. That was selfish of me.”
“I need a drink.” Tylio walked over to a cabinet, clicking it open and ordering an alcoholic beverage. “Anyone else?”
“I better not,” Briar muttered, but Adina nodded grimly.
“I need some water, please.” Caya was even paler now, and Briar realized her sister needed more than water.
“Please order some headache medication and five sugar pills. Caya might just faint at your feet if we don’t replenish her blood glucose.” Briar knew her attempt at humor incinerated on impact, but Tylio brought what she asked for.
Gulping down water, Caya pulled off her headband and rubbed her temples. “Thank you.”
Briar wanted to round the table and massage Caya’s scalp to help ease the headache, but she knew she better remain in her seat and cooperate as far as humanly possible. If she was going to keep Caya from being air-locked, she had to stay on Tylio’s good side. When it came to Adina, she knew she’d lost any chance for a future, not that she really had believed in one, but now she couldn’t even dream about it. The pain at losing the friendship she’d shared and cherished seared every neural pathway in her body.
