Shield of Drani (World of Drani Book 1)

by Melonie Purcell

  This time when he spoke, his presence in her mind wasn’t him connecting with her psi-receptors—it was him kneading away at her telepathic shields. “You have to calm down. You’re a sweaty, trembling mess, and for what? When have I ever hurt you? When have I ever let them hurt you?”

 

  “You did that to yourself. If you want to run into the same wall over and over, don’t blame me when your head starts bleeding. When have I ever hurt you?”

  He had a point. So far, she had brought everything on herself. And in all fairness, the really bad tests had ended the day he stopped her from killing Teln and took over as her ki. But it was more than the tests. Sure. Nevvis’s house, with its massive gardens, was better than the room in the medcom, but they were both just cages. When would she be able to walk the streets of Drani like everyone else? Based on how the last five years had gone, never.

  She took another deep breath. Nevvis’s mental soothing was working. She hated that he could do that, but she didn’t push him away, either—not that she could if she wanted to. One hand still held her around the neck, but with the other, he slowly peeled away the locks of hair that fell across her face. Jalkean knelt in front of her, the kar who wasn’t.

  she sent, since her face was still pressed against the floor.

 

  She started to move, but Jalkean dropped his hands over hers and held them still. She could have yanked them free, but thanks to Nevvis mushing around in her head, she didn’t really want to.

 

  That was unexpected. Save her how? He had saved her from a death sentence by not letting her kill Teln, but his comment suggested something other than that. She glanced up at Jalkean’s hands covering hers and wondered not for the first time why Dran only had one thumb. Probably the same reason they didn’t have spots and their ears stuck to their head. But what was that reason?

  Nevvis slid his knee away. “Do we have to do this throwing you on the floor and fighting you every step of the way? No. Do we have to do this test? Yes. Are you ready to act like you have some sense?”

  This time, when Taymar slid her arms back, Jalkean let her. Nevvis kept his hold around the back of her neck, but he used his other hand to help pull her to her feet. Just for fun, she tried using her teke to scan the hand sensor that opened the door. Sometimes it worked. This time it didn’t. Too bad; she would have enjoyed seeing the janu go into another fit.

  Jalkean resumed his position opposite Nevvis. “You are going to be your own undoing. You know that, right?” Jalkean said, taking her arm.

  She just shrugged. “What are they going to do? Lock me up and run tests on me?” She slapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh, wait. They already do that.”

  If Jalkean had anything else to say, he didn’t get it out. The janu swiped open the door, and Nevvis’s mind clamped down around Taymar’s in anticipation. She didn’t move.

  Except for the table once again in the center of the floor, the room was empty. Several dinisolate-protected doors led out to adjacent walls, but only a couple of Dran remained inside.

  Nevvis pushed her toward the table. “Jump up and lie down.”

  “Why do they always have to strap me down?”

  “Asks the Arlele who just got up off the floor,” Jalkean said as he moved to the far side of the table.

  Nevvis laughed, but it didn’t hide his tension. “With this test, you have to stay dead still. If they were doing the test on me, they would restrain me, too.”

  “Why don’t they do the test on you? A control subject. I like that.”

  “Come on.” Nevvis patted the table. As usual, it had almost no padding, no pillow, no nothing. Just a skinny flat metal table with restraint bands built in that smelled of disinfectant. “I’m not the one with two abilities, you are. Let’s get this over with.”

  “Sometimes I wonder.” Taymar pushed herself up on the table and lay back with her hands pushed under her to hide the trembling.

  Chapter 2 – Tests

  True to her expectations, Jalkean walked around the table, activating the restraint bands. A haze of what looked like dust appeared above each knee and forearm. In less than a second, the haze thickened and solidified into a band. As each particle beam sucked down against her skin, her stomach tried to climb farther into her throat, until once again she had to force herself to swallow.

  Nevvis moved his hand away long enough to let the band form across her chest and then went back to absently kneading the back of her neck as he stood beside her. She watched him. He was focused on something across the room. To everyone else, he was the calm, always in control, agent of the Council. But the tension in his jaw and the distracted pauses in his touch told her something wasn’t right.

  She tried to look around the room again, but the band across her chest made it nearly impossible to move. Just breathing was a challenge. Instead, she thought about the model tree house she had built. The one on a shelf at Nevvis’s house. It was where she would live when the day finally came that she could rid herself of the tests and the restraints, and all of it. She would flee to the planet Travok and live in a tree house, where the Dran couldn’t find her.

  “Tay,” Nevvis said, turning her head back to face him. “Tay. Look at me.”

  Something heavy slid across the floor behind her. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. Just watch me.” He smiled a little and brushed some hair away with his thumb. “You look rough.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure I’ve looked worse.” Doors slid open and closed, and more shuffling sounds filled the room.

  When she tried again to look around, Nevvis locked his fingers behind her neck and cupped her jaw between the heels of his hands. “Very true. You have had your share of bad days.”

  The table lurched as someone backed into it. Another piece of equipment slid in near her head, and something on the table clicked. The barely checked panic broke loose, and Taymar jerked against the particle bands. She squeezed her eyes shut and pulled with every bit of strength she had. They didn’t move. They never did. When she opened her eyes, Nevvis’s cocky yellow stare waited for her. She wanted to spit on him.

  “Don’t.”

  “Or what?”

  “Just don’t.”

  A telepathic message finally broke the dead silence as a woman ordered something moved.

  Taymar rushed into the woman’s mind, hoping to pick up anything from the Dran’s thoughts. With her eyes closed, Taymar jumped from mind to mind, looking for an opening. Most were sealed tight. Medcom Dran tended to be skilled telepaths, especially those who worked with her. But one young doctor was too excited about his experiment and let his shield thin.

  Taymar slipped in and looked around. The man’s thoughts ran wild with theories and expectations that meant nothing to her. From what she could tell, he was calibrating a computer, tapping out commands on a viewer and growing increasingly anxious to get started. She was just sorting out the getting started with what part when something cold and wet wiped across her forehead.

  She pulled out of the Dran’s mind and snapped her eyes open just as Jalkean pulled her hair back from her brow.

  “Go,” Nevvis said. His grip on her jaw tightened while yet another band sucked down across her forehead. When he moved his hands, Taymar couldn’t even twist her head to follow him as he walked away.

  “Nevvis! Get it off!” When no one responded, she called out with her mind. Her breath came in short gasps, and she was just about to jump into the doctor’s mind again when Nevvis reappeared behind her.

  “Relax,” he whispered, brushing her hair back again. He spread a sterilizing cream across her brow above the band and activated it with a handheld he
at unit. At first, her skin tingled as the cream bubbled and evaporated, but when he pulled the unit away, an icy blast took its place. Nevvis glanced down and gave her a wink. “Believe me. You’re going to be fine. Just calm down.”

 

  “You’re breathing just fine. You can’t fight. Fighting and breathing are not the same thing. I know that’s a challenging concept for you.” He tapped her once on the nose and walked away again.

  White hot rage seeped through her pores, filling her core like liquid fire. For the third time, she reached for the doctor’s mind. This time, he was watching her. Good. She saw herself strapped down to the table, her dark brown hair spilling out over the end. A machine stood poised just behind her. Nevvis was right; she did look rough. She saw herself smile. An instant before she used her view through the doctor’s eyes to send the machine flying into the wall, a burst of pain made her scream.

  “Don’t you do it,” Nevvis said from somewhere beside her. “Get him behind a dinisolate door. Not helpful, Tay.”

  When the spots cleared, Taymar glared up at Nevvis. A woman spoke from across the room. “We are ready to begin, but you can’t keep tapping her shaki. I believe we explained that.”

  Nevvis’s expression was such a comical mix of exasperation and disbelief. Taymar would have laughed were the situation not so serious. As it was, she managed a smirk until he started talking. “That highly calibrated machine you nearly ruined is going to insert probes into your head. It would be a good idea to let them go in straight. You could permanently damage your brain if you don’t. Do you understand? Don’t touch anything with your teke. This is imperative. Tell me you understand.”

  Taymar watched him for a second. He was deadly serious. They really were going to stick needles into her head. She started to nod, but couldn’t. she sent instead.

  “Okay, good.” Nevvis nodded at whom she assumed to be the woman who had spoken. Then he placed his hand over her eyes.

  Another wave of panic set in, and she wrapped her mind around his hands to push them away.

  “Taymar. Not a good idea!”

  Good idea or not, she shoved them away just as something ice-cold pressed against her forehead. Three tiny pricks made her jump. The quick stabbing pain that followed died away almost immediately, and only a bizarre pressure lingered.

  “That’s two.”

  She blinked up at him. She had probes stuck in her brain, and he was keeping score of her transgressions. Unbelievable. she sent, afraid to move her mouth for fear of scrambling her brain. Too bad she couldn’t keep her thumping heart still as well.

  “You don’t want to find out.” He turned and addressed the woman. “Let’s get this over with. What do you want her to do?”

  Now that the secret was out, the Dran minds were as open as viewers, with the exception of Nevvis’s, of course. Taymar jumped from one to the other without interference. This time when the doctor spoke, Taymar could see her through the eyes of one of the Dran techs. She was bent over a viewer, her shock of orange hair popping out from her head like sunspots. The lines on her face betrayed her sour nature. She was old beyond her years, and from the look on her face she made those who worked with her old as well. “Start with telepathy.”

  Nevvis glanced down. Since Taymar wasn’t trying to hide her snooping, it only took an instant before he knew what she was up to. “Is that good enough?” he asked the doctor.

  “Is what good enough?”

  “Her telepathy. Did you get a good enough reading? Can we move on?”

  “I don’t know what your point is, but I can tell you she isn’t using telepathy. Just instruct her to do it. Use your own so we can get a reception read as well.”

  Taymar didn’t bother hiding her smirk. Few people were brave enough or stupid enough to cross Nevvis. This would be fun to watch.

 

  Taymar feigned ignorance.

 

 

 

 

  Nevvis smiled. “What next?”

  The doctor’s confusion was obvious. She exchanged mental dialogue with some of the other Dran as she tapped commands on the viewer. “Have her levitate that,” she said finally.

  A quick pass through her mind revealed a red fist-size ball near Jalkean. Taymar snatched the ball off the table and used one of the tech’s visions to hurl it straight for the doctor. She jumped back just as Taymar reversed the ball’s direction and flung it at Nevvis’s head. He definitely saw the ball coming, but he never looked up. His cool, demanding gaze remained locked on her. He knew she wasn’t daring enough to hit him with it, and he wasn’t wrong. An instant before the ball slammed into his cheek, Taymar brought it to a dead stop. Nevvis didn’t even blink. He just watched her, eyebrows slightly raised, radiating complete self-assurance.

  After a moment of tense silence, the doctor gave her next instructions. “Now get her to use both.”

  “That was both. How do you think she saw the ball? Or you? She’s been in your heads this whole time.”

  “Maybe she saw the ball when she came in. I don’t know. But she didn’t use both, that much I can tell you. In order for her to use both, there has to be communication between the two back lobes, and there wasn’t. Just have her do it.”

  “What are you talking about? She had to see the ball to move it. She can’t see you, so she couldn’t see the…forget it.” Nevvis sucked in a slow, deep breath. “Tay, get that ball away from my face and send your station number. Loudly, so she can hear you.”

  Taymar moved the ball such a small degree that only a sharp eye could have seen it move at all. A rare display of frustration flashed across Nevvis’s face, but before he could voice it, Taymar sent the ball crashing into the perfect white wall with enough force to lodge it there.

  Nevvis didn’t comment. He looked back at the doctor with sarcastic innocence and asked, “Is there anything else you want to tell me?” When the orange-haired woman made no effort to respond, Nevvis continued. “I guess not. You have your data. The tests don’t need repeating because the data will not change, so take this thing off her.”

  “We’re not done,” the doctor said. “You need to tap her psi-receptor.”

  “Why? It works just like any other Arlele’s.”

  “We need to plot the path her receptor takes in her brain. Just do it.”

  Judging from the look on Nevvis’s face, the woman had made one demand too many. “Taymar is finished. You will release her, and you will do it right now.”

  The woman didn’t speak, but from somewhere in the room another Dran fulfilled her wishes. The tech was rushed and his tag lacked control. For the second time that morning, Taymar screamed out.

  The pain lasted only a moment. A heavy thump sounded just before the connection broke, and relief rushed over her. A brief scan of the Dran minds told her that Jalkean had thrown the attacker into a wall, but she didn’t care. It wasn’t enough. She felt numb. The emotional chaos left behind a feeling of despair and violation so profound it threatened to swallow her. When the icy metal bar finally lifted away from her skin, it was all she could do to fight back the tears. Shame at her weakness and anger at her shame vied for first place in her overtapped emotions. She just wanted to curl up in a dark corner where the Dran wouldn’t find her and disappear.

  Finally, the confinement beams dissolved. The suffocating pressure across her chest lifted. She sucked in a deep breath. Sweat trickled down
her temple and her heart still raced, but at least she was free. Afraid of what she would find, Taymar brushed trembling fingers across her brow. She felt no holes, no blood, nothing. Nevvis patted her shoulder absently before stalking over to where Jalkean still had the Dran pinned to the floor. Everyone was distracted. It was time to act.

  Taymar leaped from the table in a move so sudden nobody in the room had time to react. The pain and frustration of the day exploded inside, and she used that raw emotion like an invisible fist to crush the table with her mind and hurl it across the room. The groan of the bending metal as it crashed into the wall washed over the sounds of screaming as she turned and headed for the door. Someone activated the auto lock, but not before she managed to slide through the narrow gap of the closing doors. Using her telekinesis, she bowed them before spinning to race down the deserted corridor.

  ###

  “Dicci!” Nevvis swore under his breath. It took four people to finally pry the mangled panels open, but by that time all there was to see on the other side was an empty hall. He had felt her reach for the table. She couldn’t hide a whisper in a windstorm let alone a full-blown assault, but he just couldn’t bring himself to tap her shaki. Not again. Now, as his eyes fell on the endless doors and shuttles lining the corridor in front of him, he wished he had. “She can’t have gone far. Jalkean, come help me find her,” he said as he squeezed through the narrow gap.

  “Well, what did you expect? After what you did to her today, you can’t blame her for running,” Jalkean said as he brushed past Nevvis and slipped up to the first door. He swiped it open. Nothing.

  “What I did was keep her from killing herself or anyone else. Did you already lock down the shuttles?”

  “Yes, and don’t try to play the hero with me. I know better. Swipe that door.”

  Nevvis stopped and stared at Jalkean. “What is wrong with you?”

  “What just happened in there is what’s wrong with me. Where does it stop, Nevvis? When does it end? How many more tests can they possibly come up with? And you let them. You are no better than they are.”