The Change (Unbounded)

by Teyla Branton

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You were thinking about making a run for it. I know that much about you by now. Besides, your muscles don’t lie. You were as tense as when you went for the gun at Cort’s.”

  “Don’t let it go to your head.”

  With the barest of smiles in my direction, he knocked on the door.

  “Come in!”

  Keene opened one of the doors. We were barely three steps inside when a knife hurtled toward us—or more exactly toward Keene. He ducked to the side casually, allowing the knife to plunge into the second door, at the same time whipping out his gun and pointing it at his attacker.

  The blond man who’d thrown the knife laughed. “Haven’t lost it, I see, Keene. Good to know you’re on your toes.”

  Keene didn’t look amused, but whatever his feelings, they were not revealed on his face or exuded in any emotion I could detect. He’d gone completely dark.

  “Erin,” Keene said. “This is Stefan Carrington, your father.”

  STEFAN CARRINGTON WAS EVERYTHING JUSTINE had intimated he would be. He was tall and well built, and the magnetism in his sky-blue eyes was palpable. His short hair was so blond I couldn’t tell if there was any gray. His broad, tanned face showed fine lines, but instead of aging him they lent his face character and experience. He was the type of man even a teenage girl would have been proud to claim as a father, and whose friends would have sighed over with girlish longing every time they were in his presence. He looked familiar to me, not as father being instinctively recognized by a child, but as someone I’d seen somewhere before. I hadn’t expected that.

  “Erin,” he said, holding out his arms in welcome. “I’m so glad to finally meet you.” He hugged me warmly before holding me out at arms’ length, studying my features. “Your pictures don’t do you justice. You’re a beautiful, beautiful young woman. Not much of me in your face, but the hair, that’s mine.”

  “My mother’s too,” I said stiffly, the anger building inside me as I remembered the last time I’d seen her.

  “And your Unbounded ancestor’s.” He laughed. “I wish I could see Ava’s face now.”

  I smiled, though I felt absolutely no joy in the comment. I couldn’t tell if what he said was sincere or not. I could sense nothing from him. His mind was as dark to me as Keene had gone.

  “Ah, but let me introduce you to Tihalt McIntyre.” With a hand on my shoulder he angled me to several large windows where a man waited, a mug of something in his hands. “Tihalt is one of my two partners who help run this great organization.”

  I caught an impression of brown hair washed with gray, a narrow face, slim build—definitely Unbounded—and then he was offering his hand. “Welcome, Erin. Very nice to meet you.” To my surprise, he took my hand and kissed it, all the while holding my gaze with green eyes that reminded me of Keene’s. “My son has told me good things about you,” Tihalt added. His gaze went to where Keene stood stiffly by the door. They hadn’t greeted each other in any way that I had seen, but I’d been a little occupied.

  Like Stefan, Tihalt exuded no emotion I could sense. Tihalt resembled Keene more than Cort, though his expression was decidedly more on the intellectual side like his Unbounded son. He let my hand go. To Stefan, he said, “I’ll take my son for debriefing and let you two get acquainted. I’m sure I’ll have many opportunities to get to know your beautiful daughter.”

  Stefan inclined his head. “Maybe we’ll have another alliance soon.”

  Tihalt smiled. “Perhaps.”

  Tihalt walked to the door and without a word, Keene followed. He glanced at me once, and I thought he might be silently wishing me good luck.

  I didn’t need it or anything else from him. My plan was securely in place.

  “I’ll bet you could use a drink after your flight,” Stefan said.

  I followed him to the bar in an alcove on the same wall as the entry door. As I waited for him to pour, I took the opportunity to scan his office. There were exquisite paintings and art objects, carved wooden panels, clever lighting, and a comfortable couch arrangement. The only thing that signaled it was a work place was the enormous cherry desk, complete with carved legs, and a black leather swivel chair that must have pivoted around when Stefan arose because all I could see of it was the tall back.

  “You like it?”

  “It’s beautiful.” I accepted the drink, took a sip, and nearly choked. “Isn’t it a little early for whisky?” Strong stuff, by the taste. Too strong.

  He laughed. “Never too early for a good scotch. Besides, it’s not as if we’ll get drunk.” I heard the remorse in his voice. “It’s strong enough to give you a little buzz, but getting drunk would take far more than I have here.”

  “Another Unbounded trait?”

  He cocked a brow. “Actually, yes. Whatever keeps us alive so long, also removes poisons from our bodies, and whisky is definitely a poison.”

  “Tastes like it.”

  He laughed again. “I keep forgetting you’re so newly an Unbounded. There’s a great deal you will learn here, Erin. A great deal I can teach you.”

  I nodded, not sure what to say to that. I took the opportunity to study him closely. Why did he seem so familiar? Was it because I saw myself in him? If I did, I couldn’t identify any particular feature I could claim. Perhaps the recognition was on a more primitive level, the same level as the Unbounded gene. I concentrated until my head pounded, but I couldn’t catch any of his thoughts.

  “So, are you impressed with our organization?” Stefan asked.

  “I haven’t seen much.”

  “Of course not. Come, have a seat.” He sat on a brown leather couch, patting the space beside him. “Are you happy to be here? Are you as happy to meet me as I am to meet you?”

  I felt nothing for him or about him. Perhaps the fact that I couldn’t sense any of his emotions caused my apathy. So what if he appeared happy to see me? I couldn’t sense that he really was. It was as though I was blind to him, made so intentionally by his own control. But why couldn’t I sense anything? I remembered Cort talking about protecting his thoughts, and I wondered if Stefan was doing that and if he suspected my real talent.

  “I’m happy to meet you, Stefan,” I forced myself to say, “and to take my place among the Unbounded here.”

  His grin spread. “That will happen very soon, and meanwhile we’ll be spending a lot of time together. Keene tells me you have the family ability.”

  “I guess so.”

  His turn to sit back and take a drink, looking both smug and in control.

  My apathy instantly vanished, replaced by a burning anger. This man’s responsible for what happened to my real father. To Lorrie and Jace. If I’d had a gun in my hand that moment, I would have easily pulled the trigger.

  “She’s lying.” Across the room, the black chair behind the desk swiveled to reveal a small woman with gray hair swept into an elaborate twist at the back of her neck.

  I was stunned to see her, taken completely by surprise, and I realized I’d become overconfident of at least being able to sense all the people in a room, even if I couldn’t see inside them. Yet somehow I hadn’t caught even an inkling of this woman’s presence.

  Stefan set his drink on the coffee table and came to his feet. “Erin, meet Delia Vesey. She’s the third partner in the Triad.”

  Delia’s face was lined, giving me the impression of great age, but she had an air of royalty that not even Stefan could match. Confidence, power, knowledge. Definitely Unbounded, though far older than the others. While I knew both Stefan and Tihalt were powerful, I had no doubt this diminutive woman was the true force behind the Emporium Triad.

  She stood with a graceful motion that reminded me of a dancer, her gray dress flowing like water around her. The regal face must once have been beautiful but was now simply striking. Her brown eyes dominated her face and my attention. I arose, feeling like a bug in a jar.

  “She believes she would
kill you,” Delia said without a change in expression, “given the chance. Fortunately for you, I don’t think she has the guts for such an act. There is more she’s hiding, but without a proper examination it’s useless to guess. She seems to have learned a little about blocking.” She crossed the space that separated her from Stefan. “This is not a good idea, as I’ve said from the beginning. She has already been poisoned against us.”

  “I’m sure once Erin understands what we are doing here, she’ll join us willingly,” Stefan said mildly.

  “Will you?” The woman’s gaze turned to me, and I felt a probing in my head, as though someone was touching the inside with feather-like strokes.

  I pushed back at the touches, felt them subside. No sooner did I feel triumph than thoughts tumbled into my head. I’m still here. You may hide things, but you cannot push me out entirely. You are untrained, and I am the strongest sensing Unbounded alive today. Even Stefan has a hard time keeping me away.

  I glared at her, pushing against the intrusion until suddenly it was gone. I didn’t know if I’d pushed her out, or if she’d withdrawn on her own. Or if she was simply there without making herself known. A chill tingled down my back.

  “Erin?” Stefan asked. “Are you willing to give this a try?”

  I looked at him, still sensing nothing from him. It dawned on me that his darkness hadn’t been for my benefit at all but because he didn’t want Delia in his head any more than I wanted her in mine. Yet in my thoughts she’d been, and she had exposed my plan to play along with Stefan. What I didn’t know was if she’d learned of my true ability.

  “I need more answers before I can make a decision.” My voice was steady but held a touch of venom. “My sister-in-law is dead, my brother’s wounded, and my father is dying in a hospital right now. I have no idea where my other brother and his children are. If I’m so important to you, why would you do these things to everyone I love?”

  Delia gave him a smirk that said, “See?”

  Stefan ignored her. “I promise I have no idea what you are talking about. I ordered your family brought in for safety because I was afraid the Renegades would use them against you. Erin, you have to believe that we want the best for you.”

  I don’t have to believe anything. My jaw clenched back the words before they could escape. I searched for something else to say instead. Something logical that might give him a way out of the mess, even if it meant lying to me. Then, as long as I could keep Delia out of my thoughts, my plan might still work. “Someone ordered them killed. Someone from the Emporium.”

  Stefan crossed to the desk and lifted the phone, punching in a number. “Tihalt, I’m sorry for the interruption, but I need to ask Keene a question immediately. Would you please send him back to us? Thank you.”

  I stood awkwardly, staring alternately at Delia and Stefan. He smiled; she remained expressionless. I kept up the outward pushing sensation in my mind, but I didn’t know if it was working. I wished Ava had been more forthcoming about our gift, or at least had taught me how to protect my mind.

  Tihalt’s office must have been close because less than a minute later a knock came on the door. “Come,” Stefan ordered.

  Keene stood in the doorway, looking from Stefan to Delia and me. “How can I help?”

  “Who was responsible for the attack on Erin’s family?”

  Keene’s jaw twitched, but he didn’t speak. Was that because he didn’t want to lie? His mind was dark, and I could read nothing of his thoughts or feelings. I moved toward him. “Please, Keene, tell me who it was.” I was still three feet away from him when I heard a thought as plainly as if it were a word: Justine.

  Just when I thought I knew the extent of Justine’s duplicity, she surprised me again. Aware of Delia’s presence, I fought not to gasp aloud.

  Delia walked toward Keene, a slight smile on her aged face. “It was Justine. She and several others acted against Keene’s orders.” Her eyes flicked toward Stefan and then toward me. “I’ve changed my mind, Stefan. It may be a very good thing to bring your daughter here. A very good thing.”

  She knows, I thought, my stomach queasy.

  Yes. Her thought came to my mind, shutting off as I pushed outward again.

  “She will need a strong hand to be of value to us,” Delia added aloud. “I will help with that. Until I clear her, keep her confined. There is too much at stake to let her roam.” Without another word, she swept out the door, her gray dress fluttering in her wake.

  I watched her vanish with relief. More than any other Unbounded I’d met, she frightened me, especially now that she knew my secret.

  Why hadn’t she told Stefan?

  “Thank you, Keene.” Stefan said. “You may go.”

  Keene looked at me, his mouth parted as though he wanted to speak. Then, as though thinking better of it, he whirled and marched away.

  I watched him go, shaken by everything that had happened, but most of all by the information that Justine had ordered the attack on my family.

  A touch on my arm, and I turned to face Stefan. “I will take care of this matter, Erin. I promise.”

  “Don’t hurt her. Please.” As much as I hated what she’d done, I didn’t want her dead—or worse.

  His nostrils flared. “I will do as I see best. You are family, and I will protect you.” He was still touching me, and this time I received images of his strong connection with family, his loyalty to them, and his hope for me. I blinked at the emotions, but when he lifted his hand from my arm, all the images vanished instantly and there was only blackness again.

  “For now, let’s trust each other, shall we?” He smiled. “I hope to have a training session with you soon. We’ll get to know each other better.”

  Just what I was afraid of. “I’m really new at this.”

  “I’m aware of your former occupation. But don’t worry. Even if you aren’t talented at combat, there are other variations of the gift, as you will soon learn.” He paused a moment before adding. “I suppose it really would be too much to hope that you had your other ancestor’s ability. Now that would be extremely useful. Well, no matter, there may be a possibility of enhancing that gene in your children.”

  In my children? I felt a shiver of dread.

  Crossing the room, Stefan picked up his phone again. “I’ll have you escorted to your suite. I have something for you there. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

  “Jonny, please come to my office. Erin is ready to see her room.” He’d no sooner hung up the phone than a slightly built Unbounded opened the door. He had blond hair and a ready smile, but he looked a bit young to have Changed.

  “Jonny’s your half-brother,” Stefan said. “He’ll take good care of you.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek, a quick gesture that was over before I realized what he intended. “We’ll talk later. Jonny, answer any questions she has. She’s one of us now.”

  As the door shut behind us, Jonny gave me a winning smile. “You’re not going to try to run away are you? Because it really wouldn’t do you any good.” With that, he practically disappeared. A blur streaked down the hall and back again. “See? No one can outrun me. I’m even faster than those with the ability for combat. I’d rather have their intuition for fighting, but this variation comes in handy at times.”

  For a moment, my mouth hung open at his display, but then I laughed at his infectious nature. He seemed a child in an adult body. “I bet it does.” I matched his step down the hallway—his much slowed step, that is. “So what other abilities are there?”

  He shrugged. “Just about anything anyone in the world is good at, but it boils down to about six main talents—science, math, art, combat, healing, and extrasensory. Each has variations. Like math has technology and building and computer skills. Accounting. You know, anything related. One guy here can multiply numbers faster than you can say them. It’s pretty amazing.” We’d reached the elevator, and he jabbed at the button. “Science has a lot of crossover with math and healing, just a
s combat does with physical arts such as dancing. Some argue they are part of the same skill. They claim there are really only three basic skills—physical, mental, and extrasensory—which contain many variations. Can you believe people actually argue about such things?”

  “I guess they have a lot of time on their hands.” People were really talented at dancing? Art? It seemed too much to take in. Yet from the sincerity I sensed in him, I could tell Jonny wasn’t saying anything unusual. I hoped I’d get the chance to see some of the more artsy abilities in action one day.

  Jonny grinned, his blue eyes crinkling at the sides as though he’d laughed a great deal in his life. “Yeah, time is something we have a lot of.” Unlike his father—our father—his face was small and had a crunched sort of look, as though his features hadn’t time to fully develop and expand. Yet the way he moved showed all the confidence of an Unbounded.

  We stepped inside the elevator. “What about the extrasensory variations?”

  “Well, there’s sensing, of course, which has different levels of ability. Different variations, too, like influencing people with pheromones, though some say that’s more a physical ability. Then there’s pre-cognition, telekinesis, teleporting—”

  “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “Well, I’ve never personally met anyone who has visions of the future or can lift things with their minds or transport themselves to another location—and I don’t know anyone who actually knows anyone with those abilities, though I’ve heard tales from the old days. Some say those gifts would be a variation of the science or math talents. You know, going through space and time and defying gravity and all that.” He grinned. “But like you say, some people have way too much time on their hands.”

  “Can anyone tell someone’s an Unbounded by looking at them?”

  “That’s related to sensing.” He looked at me closely. “Why do you ask?”

  “One of my ancestors has that ability.”

  “I see.”

  I felt an unexpected surge of jealousy and hatred from him that threatened to overwhelm me. I put my hand against the elevator shaft to steady myself. I wanted to ask him why he hated me so much, but I didn’t want to give myself away. Besides, he was looking at me with concern now.