Shattered Illusions (Terra Chronicles Book 2)

by J. C. Jackson

  “Ket, look at me.” I refused - I could not look at my reflection. She got into my field of vision and I looked away again. “Okay, so this is probably very strange, but I could use your help when the buyer shows up. I’m obviously not very good at pretending to be you so maybe you can talk me through it?”

  “Let me go instead.”

  “No!” both Kitteren and Father said at the same time.

  Fan decided to step in as the voice of reason, “Lass, how do you expect to deal with basically one arm tied behind yer back? Don’t you worry none - yer sister will be completely safe. Just need to let the bastard think he’s gettin’ you.”

  “And Hells if I’ll let them near you,” Father said. It surprised me for some reason.

  Fan started packing up her things. “You seem to be fine, lass. Anythin’ you want to tell me about?”

  “She nearly fell getting out of bed,” Father said quickly.

  I ran my free hand through my hair, pushing it out of my face. “It’s only because the medication from earlier hadn’t fully worn off yet.”

  “Aye, that was somethin’ strong - wanted you to get some sleep. That’ll help you heal faster. I’d give you somethin’ more mild, but it likely won’t do you any good,” Fan said, moving about the infirmary.

  I shook my head, “I’ll be fine.”

  “You need to stop saying that,” Father chided.

  ~*~

  Three hours. I had three hours before I found out who wanted me so badly they would put out a bounty. This part was supposed to be easy: I sit nice and safe here at the warehouse and be Kitteren’s puppet master.

  I hated this plan.

  I fully understood the slave trader crew had been replaced by TIO agents, but it still did not settle the unease I felt. I wanted nothing more than for this to be done and over with. I needed to deal with the lack of trust my family showed me.

  I felt torn between wanting to feel betrayed and accepting they could not because of it being a Dark Ops mission. And also kicking myself for putting them in danger by staying silent, though I knew not what I could have told them to make a difference.

  Sighing, I sat bored at a table in their small dining area, poking at the food on my plate. I should be starving, but I had no appetite.

  “Hey, kid,” Darius said and turned the chair across from me around to sit on it backwards. “If you don’t eat, one of them will come in here and feed you.”

  “Just not hungry,” I said quietly.

  Darius started unwrapping his sandwich. “Yeah, I can guess why you wouldn’t be. This whole thing is a disaster. Worse when it’s family.”

  I pushed the vegetables around on my plate. “I just want to deal with one thing at a time.”

  “Makes sense. Maybe I can help with something?” He slid the extra bottle of juice he placed on the table over to me.

  I stopped and looked at Darius. What was he up to? Seeing no loss in verbalizing it, I said, “Right now I just want to know who wants me - I’m not valuable.” I returned to pushing the food around my plate.

  Then the conversation between Kitteren and Lockonis I walked in on came to mind. What had Lockonis said? Something about a highly valuable asset. If not for the fact I should not have overheard the conversation I would ask for clarification.

  Darius raised an eyebrow at me, his mouth full. Once he swallowed what he had eaten, he said, “Well, you would be wrong. At least to us as both an agent and a friend, you are extremely valuable. Hells, when we heard you were involved and how, the three of us fought for the assignment. Savanas managed to hold onto a couple of new agents and put in a request to the main office for support so we could all go. Said if she couldn’t go, she’d make damn sure you’d be covered.” He stopped and looked at me a moment before reaching over and cracking the cap on the bottle he had slid over. Not like I could have done it with one hand. “Any ideas on who else might want you this badly?”

  I half-shrugged, my right arm being too immobilized to complete the gesture. Something at the back of my mind nagged at me enough to pay attention to it. “Previously the Arcane College has tried to recall me, but they wouldn’t resort to this.”

  Darius started rhythmically tapping his fingers on the table. “You’re right - this isn’t their style, but they also acted weird when it came to Brown.”

  He had a point, but this seemed overly far-fetched even for them. “I should be there instead of Kitteren.”

  Darius paused in trying to inhale his food. “In your condition, you wouldn’t last very long being tied up. She’ll be able to break out easily, but your shoulder wouldn’t be able take the strain. Besides, she needs to do this. Kitteren may not act like it, but she’s taking what happened pretty hard. All of us are to tell you the truth.” I could not recall ever having heard the sad tone in Darius’ voice before. He always seemed cheerful. “The captain had some balls, I’ll give him that. Had the three of you in his grasp and there was nothing we could do but sight in targets and wait for the order to continue.”

  I couldn’t bring myself to look up at him. “What do you mean?”

  “Ket, we all saw your fight somehow even if it was after the fact.” I cringed hearing that. I forgot about the camera on the headset when I gave it to Kitteren. “You weren’t supposed to be a part of this operation and there you were, fighting to protect those two hard-heads with everything you had.”

  “At least they stopped arguing with each other,” Brad said as he came in. “Ket, you need to eat.”

  I did not feel like reiterating myself and continued to push my food around the plate.

  “Anyone else you can think of?” Darius asked.

  I half-shrugged again. “Everyone knows most of my secrets now.” I think that truly bothered me. There was no more pretending to be normal, or at the very least not a monster.

  “I wouldn’t worry about it. Well, maybe,” Darius started. “The Highlands guys have been talking about trying to get you onto their team.”

  I looked up at the men across from me, confused.

  Brad took over, “Despite not being trained for something like this, your skill set impressed them, though I highly doubt the Director will break you and Silver apart.”

  I had not seen Silver since I woke. Given how angry he was the last time, I had a feeling this team Vince wanted to build would fall apart before it began. I returned to pushing the food around my plate. I could not seem to keep to dealing with only one thing at a time.

  “Speaking of Silver, I didn’t think he’d leave you alone,” Darius commented. “Especially not with the injuries you sustained.”

  Brad shook his head. “Silver needs to clear his head. He’s upset over the fact Ket managed to slip through his grasp and then…” He signaled at my current condition.

  “A paladin and a tracker get taken hostage and are then rescued by a lab tech - sounds like a bad joke,” Darius quipped and then laughed at his own remark.

  Brad rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you go talk to him, Ket? After you finish eating.”

  “Yeah, you don’t want to have to eat the nasty blocks,” Darius pointed out.

  “Nutrition blocks,” Brad corrected.

  Darius shook his head and swallowed his food quickly to respond, “No, nasty blocks. Have you ever eaten one?”

  I had not, but I figured I would not enjoy them. I forced myself to take another bite. They stayed with me, mostly carrying on their own conversation until I finished.

  ~*~

  Still having a couple of hours until the buyer showed, I followed the directions Brad and Darius gave me to where they last saw Silver. Kitteren and the others taking the place of the slave traders had already left.

  Silver had gone to check on the rescued children. I grew concerned they were still being held, but they needed to be hidden from the buyer just as I did.

  It took me a while to get across the skywalk I had seen before to the other warehouse and then back down to the lower levels. Even with a little b
it of magic to help speed things along, it was slow going with the crutch Fan ordered me to use. It hurt to put weight on my left leg.

  Gently opening the door, I peeked in and saw the children looking in far better condition than when I last saw them - cleaned and fed with fresh clothes. They were laughing and playing. This room had been designed with children in mind - there were toys for various ages. A couple of adults I saw previously as part of the crew sat inside, watching and playing with the children, but no Silver from where I could see.

  One of the two women looked over at me. “Ketayl! No need to hang by the door, come on in.”

  I felt bad I could not remember the Human woman’s name. I quietly entered, not quite coordinated with the crutch under one arm. I stiffened up as I felt someone behind me. Looking up over my shoulder, Silver closed the door behind us. I could not read his face - he kept his head up so I mostly just saw the patch of silver hair under his chin.

  He walked past me into the room. This had not been what I had in mind.

  A few of the children came up and circled him, pulling on his hand toward whatever game they were playing. A familiar little girl looked up to see what the commotion was. “Fairie?” she asked and got up from where she had been coloring.

  I stood still, not sure what to do as she came over to me. Everyone else in the room stopped and turned toward us.

  The girl reached up and gently put a hand on the sling. “You got hurt because of us.”

  Silver turned his face away and it looked like something pained him. Perhaps he needed to tend to his own injuries.

  I managed to shift away from the door and knelt on the floor.

  “Are you still on that dumb story?” a boy next to Silver shot at her. “Give it up, it’s not real.”

  Silver looked down at him and said, “It’s as real as she is.”

  The little girl reached into her hair and pulled out the elastic I previously gave her as a promise. “Thank you for coming back. I’m sure you’ll need to return it soon. I even washed it.”

  I nodded, my voice gone.

  She latched herself around my neck and squeezed hard. “Thank you!”

  Suddenly more children surrounded me and I found myself at a loss. I should not have come in here. She jarred my shoulder and I winced.

  A Dwarven woman came over and gently pried her off. “Easy, honey. Just need to be gentle with her.”

  A flood of apologies poured forth from the girl’s lips.

  “It’s okay,” I tried to get in between her words. I became uneasy about the amount of children around me now. Had there really been this many in the hold? It seemed like there were more than what I teleported.

  “Where are your wings?” another girl asked. “The statue has wings.”

  I looked up at the other women in the room and then over to Silver who made his way back over to me. He said, “I think some details might have been exaggerated in the story.”

  The children looked at me expectantly. The thought I had would likely be a bad idea, but I ran with it anyway. I put a finger to my lips, signaling to keep it a secret. I tucked my good hand inside the sling for a moment and started the simple illusion spell, trying to remember the details of the statue.

  When I pulled my hand out, I cupped a handful of sparkling dust held together in a ball. Tossing it up, the little ball burst and showered myself and the children near me in the dust, outlining a pair of wings on my back. I fluttered them a little and then let the magic fade. It took more effort than I had been prepared for.

  The room fell silent and little eyes were as wide as can be. I decided it had definitely been a bad idea as the moment ended and their voices got loud, all trying to shout different things at once.

  The caretakers, Silver included, tried to calm the children down.

  “See, we don’t need to go to an orphanage,” one of them said.

  I held up my good hand and by some miracle, they all quieted. “How much do you know?” I don’t think they had the truth.

  “That you lived on the streets like us.” I did not see who the voice belonged to.

  “For a time, but eventually someone adopted my sister and I,” I said. “Please don’t think you should live like I did. I had a home and a family. I lost them and was forced to find my way. A new family found me.”

  “And now Ketayl is an agent with the TIO,” the Human woman said.

  “But what about the story? Those kids? Were they real?”

  I nodded. “But I couldn’t do it alone. Just like I didn’t do it alone this time.” I glanced over at Silver who sat next to me on the side of my injured shoulder. I held up the hair elastic to him.

  The door opened again and I had not expected to see Joanna being escorted in by another agent. She looked around frantically until she spotted her son near me. “Matthew!” She immediately pulled him into a tight hug and began crying.

  I felt a little guilty at having forgotten his name. At least she ignored me. I winced and started rubbing my hip. I needed to get up - sitting down on the floor like this had been a bad idea.

  Silver picked me up easily and the Dwarven woman handed me my crutch. She said quietly, “We’re slowly contacting the families we can. Making arrangements for the others. Just can’t draw too much attention.”

  Joanna looked up and narrowed her eyes for a moment before covering her mouth. “What happened?” She stood up and reached out tentatively to brush her fingertips on the sling.

  “Ketayl found us, mommy. They said she made sure that they’ll never be able to do this again,” Matthew chimed in proudly.

  Then Joanna tilted my head to the side to look at the bruise on my jaw and then up. I could not move out of her light grip without falling backwards. Suddenly her eyes went wide and she backed off, “I’m so sorry. I’m a doctor in urgent care at the hospital - I’m afraid my manners are lacking after so many years there.” She looked down at her son, placing her hand on his head. “I never did apologize for how I treated you before.”

  “It’s fine.”

  I found myself in a tight hug and it sounded like Joanna started crying again. I stiffened up at the pain, but stayed still. My good hand gripped the crutch tightly and I hoped I could stay balanced.

  Once she calmed enough, Joanna whispered, “Thank you. You brought him back to me.” Then she let me go.

  I began having a hard time managing the pain - I could feel the sweat beading on my forehead. I said, “I’m sorry, but I need to get going. Perhaps later?”

  Joanna nodded and a chorus of disappointment rang through the children and many asked me to come back when I could. Silver escorted me out.

  I managed to make it to the far end of the hall before having to stop. The pain got worse with each step and even with trying to stay off of the leg, my injured hip throbbed. I leaned back against the wall, clenching my teeth.

  “I’m guessing you’re off the pain killers,” Silver said. “Where does it hurt?”

  I shook my head.

  “Dammit, Ketayl,” Silver said sharply and his hand hit the wall next to my head. I looked up at him - he stood too close and I had nowhere to escape. “Knock off the tough act already - I know how much pain you’re in. It’s not a sign of weakness to let someone help. Let me do something. I’ve been on the sidelines watching you take on everything yourself.”

  “You fixed my shoulder,” I pointed out.

  Silver backed up a step. “I’m the one who should be taking the risks. I have a shield and armor, remember? I’m trained for a fight. And I never wanted to put you in so much pain, but none of us wanted you to lose the mobility in your shoulder either. You would have had to go through multiple surgeries and likely would still be in constant pain. You might have had to give up playing your violin. It is the only thing I have been able to do.”

  I had not known my shoulder had been in such bad shape. I sighed, the pain returning to a dull ache again and I started moving.

  “No,” Silver said and stopped
me. He took the crutch away and leaned it against the wall before scooping me up. “I’ll come back for it later.”

  “Put me down,” I demanded.

  Silver smirked and shook his head. “I like this. The last time when I carried you here, you kept curling up into me.”

  I felt the heat rise in my face. “Did not.”

  “How do you know? You were unconscious.” Silver grinned mischievously.

  I reminded him, “I don’t like being touched.” I tried again to be free of his hold.

  It did not seem to take much effort for him to readjust me back to where I had been. “If you fight me, I’ll tell everyone you’re a snuggler.”

  “That’s a lie,” I shot back quickly.

  “I have witnesses. Most of them in there.” He gestured toward the room the children were in with his chin. “I suppose I can’t count that then, huh? You were in risk of healing shock and probably just trying to stay warm. In the infirmary I guess wouldn’t count either due to extenuating circumstances.”

  I glared straight ahead and stopped talking. At least he did not seem to be mad at me anymore.

  As he walked, Silver asked, “Ketayl, why didn’t you run when we told you to?”

  “I couldn’t,” I said quickly and then stopped. More calmly, I continued, “I couldn’t let them kill you. You were hurt and captured because of me.”

  Silver struggled to open the door while trying to carry me. As soon as he managed the latch, he said, “I guess we’re going to have to spend some time training together to learn each other’s skills. You didn’t know I planned on putting a protective bubble around Kitteren and myself, but I was only going to be able to maintain it for short periods of time.”

  I stayed quiet. If I had listened, I might have heard him tell me.

  “And I didn’t know you knew how to disappear in a crowd. I figured with your hair color, it would have been easy to spot you,” Silver continued his commentary.

  I cringed. I learned that on the streets - not something to be praised.

  Silver sighed, obviously frustrated with me. “Don’t, Ketayl. The past is part of who we are. It may not be something to be proud of, but it happened for a reason and the best thing you can do is learn from it.”