by Taki Drake
Power Nexus
By Taki Drake
Vorcian Imperial Chronicles
Table of Contents
Title Page
Legal Stuff
Dedications
Chapter 1 – Away from Home
Chapter 2 – Arrival and Registration
Chapter 3 – Getting Settled
Chapter 4 – Dorm Life
Chapter 5 – New Situation Overload
Chapter 6 – Glasses and Classes
Chapter 7 – First Classes
Chapter 8 – Field Trip Warning
Chapter 9 – Pain is Just Pain
Chapter 10 – Consequences
Chapter 11 – Hearing and Witness
Chapter 12 – Judgment
Chapter 13 – Focus and Dedication
Chapter 14 – Piecing the Puzzle
Chapter 15 – Family History
Chapter 16 – Catching Up
Chapter 17 – Conditioning
Chapter 18 – Revisions and Changes
Chapter 19 – The Scientific Method
Chapter 20 – Cramming for a Holiday
Chapter 21 – Creepy Stalkers
Chapter 22 – Showtime!
Chapter 23 – Walking the Wild Side
Chapter 24 – Alley Rats and Traps
Chapter 25 – Keeping the Peace
Chapter 26 – Reserve Forces
Chapter 27 – Reenactment
Chapter 28 – Attack Response
Chapter 29 – Extraction
Chapter 30 – Home Base
Chapter 31 – Shock Effects
Chapter 32 – The Eye of the Storm
Chapter 33 – Mission On
Chapter 34 – Tactics of Survival
Chapter 35 – Hitting the Fan
Chapter 36 – Custody Wars
Chapter 37 – Staff Churn
Chapter 38 – Old Secrets
Chapter 39 – Investigation
Chapter 40 – Work Release
Chapter 41 – Heckler Motivation
Chapter 42 – Tantrums
Chapter 43 – Trauma with Friends
Chapter 44 – Awakening
Chapter 45 – Secrets Exposed
Chapter 46 – When Plans Evolve
Chapter 47 – When Plans Collapse
Chapter 48– When Hope has Wings
Author Notes
Author - Taki Drake
Keep Connected
Legal Stuff
Copyright ©2019, Taki Drake, All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction of any kind is strictly prohibited unless written permission granted by the author.
Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Published by All Chaos Press
Dedications
First and foremost, this book is dedicated to my husband. His support and devotion have created an environment in which I have been able to dare to extend myself into new areas with the absolute certainty that someone will always have my back. Thank you, John. Thank you for your love and support, and being there in my life.
This book is also dedicated to the great group of crazy writers at Phoenix Prime. Those supportive, encouraging, and crazy indie authors have provided guidance, encouragement, and participation in my growth as writer of fiction.
None of this would be possible without the incomparable Ds, Dorene and Diane. Editors, beta readers, cheerleaders, and a bright spot in my life.
Getting the story to publish is the result of a ton of work from the All Chaos Press team. Thank you Ann and Sha for putting in the effort to keep me going!
My loving thanks to you all!
Taki
Chapter 1 – Away from Home
The swaying and the bouncing of the vehicle kicked up a nauseous tightness in Corda’s stomach, and the young girl fought desperately to avoid vomiting. It wasn’t that she was a stranger to the town since she and her family had visited here many times. She had even walked around the Academy grounds when her oldest brother was a student. However, this time was different. The barely 13-year-old girl was now underway to a school where she would live and learn with strangers.
Lost in an emotional storm, Corda kept playing the events of the last few weeks over in her head. Desperately trying to feel some sense of control, she decided not to focus on her tearful goodbye of the morning as she left the loving embrace of Nanny, the person who had nurtured and raised her all of her childhood years.
Saying goodbye to her brothers and sister had not been as an emotional experience as leaving the people that had really nurtured her during the time that she had spent in her family home.
Watern House was a big, coldly-formal mansion that fit the Watern family reputation as the foremost Healers on Barkin Prime. That structure carried a sense of power and prestige, seeped into the wood and stone of the walls and floors over hundreds of years. It had only increased to an overwhelming pressure, as the family had grown in influence and wealth.
Corda’s father, Ealtert Hessen Watern IV, was a Healer Adept who had the position of Healer Secondus on the Planetary Council. He and his wife, Aret Gerson Watern, were considered a power couple in the local scene. Always entertaining to further her husband’s career, Aret was focused on her spouse and left the raising of her children to Nanny and the rest of her staff.
Lost in the memory and reliving the experience, Corda remembered making her farewells to her parents the previous night in a formal dinner. Ignored for most of the meal, just before everyone dispersed after dessert, Corda was told by her father, “I expect you to do as well as your brothers did at the Academy. I will not tolerate you doing less than upholding the family's reputation and honor. Apply yourself, and you should make a decent Healer.”
The family Patriarch pushed back from the table and offered his hand to his wife, commandingly stating, “Aret, it is time for us to leave for the Elwoods’ soirée. I will give you 15 minutes to change your clothing, and I will be ready to go. Don’t make me wait.”
Corda’s mother had responded, “Of course, my dear. I would never dream of keeping you waiting.”
The young girl had watched as her parents left the room. Pausing momentarily at the door, Aret had turned her head and with a slightly confused look of regret, said, “Just be good.”
There was a deep silence as the remaining children sat frozen and unspeaking around the table. Corda didn’t even want to look up and meet their eyes. Her younger siblings, two sets of twins, said nothing.
Corda could feel the weight of their gaze on her skin as if it was points of heat. About to push back from the table, the young girl was startled to hear her younger sister say, “Jerry and I know that you will do well, Corda. It won’t be too much longer before we go to the Academy also, and then we’ll see you there.”
Jerry, Jen’s twin, seldom spoke and only when pushed to do so. His low-toned voice brought tears to her eyes when he said, “I will miss you.” Shoving his chair back in what almost sounded like fear, the echo of his footsteps told Corda that he was fleeing the room.
Corda waited. There was a breeze of air that touched her skin, and she knew without looking that Jen had quickly followed her twin. Now, there were only Anthos and Jamy, the twins that were five years younger than she was.
Listening carefully, while still keeping her eyes averted, Corda sensed more than heard her younger siblings soundlessly leave the room. The echo in the large dining room damped down as the only sound was her uneven breathing.
They didn’t even want to say goodbye, the young girl thought to herself. A cold, abandoned feeling slipped over her like an energy-sucking blanket. Fighting against it, Corda monitored her breathing and tried to deepen both her inhalations and exhalations. Gradually, the tightly-wound hurtful emotions eased, and her breath came more easily.
Trying to marshal her control, the 13-year-old girl straightened up and began to push herself away from the table. She jerked in startlement when a voice said, “Please let me assist you, Lady Corda. Indulge an old man, I beg of you. This will be the last time for many months that I get to have the pleasure of assisting you.”
“Thank you, Gerzal. I would never call you an old man, and I deeply appreciate all the kindness you have extended me during my time in this house.”
The Butler carefully pulled Corda’s chair back, and the young woman looked at him through tear-soaked eyes, nodding her thanks before fleeing the room.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Corda. As she was packing up her belongings, stripping her room of everything of importance, the young girl had realized that she was deliberately numbing her feelings to survive what she now was going through.
Corda knew that Nanny was surprised and distressed that Corda was either packing or giving away the things in her room. Briefly, the woman had tried to argue with her, saying, “You can leave some of your things here, you know. That way, when you come back for vacations, you will have something familiar around you.”
Corda remembered smiling at the woman whose distressed aura was evident to the young girl, before saying, “Nanny, I love you and know that you love me too. However, it doesn’t do us any good to pretend things are other than what they are. Father has pushed me out of the house and into the Academy almost 2 years early because he doesn’t want me here. Even if I wanted to come back for holidays, we both know that he would resist that, and Mother would go along with him.”
Nanny had no rejoinder and silently helped the eldest Watern daughter to prepare for the next stage of her life. Corda had tried to keep things cheerful but knew that it was a poor attempt. The rest of the evening was spent with Corda trying not to acknowledge Nanny’s sorrow and the caregiver's respectful distance.
Corda had not slept well the previous night. Anytime she fell asleep, she awakened again shortly in a nightmare of bullying voices and a feeling that she couldn’t get oriented. The young girl woke to a cramping, empty stomach, and an overwhelming sense of approaching doom.
Refusing to give in to her terror, Corda realized at some point, Father wants me terrified and pleading. He is trying to get me to break, to beg him not to make me leave.
The young girl could feel the rise of energy as it exploded up her legs and radiated out from her core to her fingertips and even to the ends of her hair. Feeling much stronger, her mental voice echoed in her head, stating, I will not give a bully that much power over me!
Corda finished repacking, zipping up the last case, and looking around the room to the nakedness of empty shelves and cold of impersonal space. She thought to herself, No one would know that I had lived here my whole life. It is like the last 13 years didn’t make any impression on this house. Just like I haven’t made any impression on this family.
Feeling a sharp pain from this momentous understanding, Corda picked up her backpack and left the room, ready to make her last farewells.
Only Nanny and Cook were waiting in the nursery area. Both women had red-rimmed eyes and quickly enfolded her in warm arms. Corda’s breath caught in her chest, and she hiccuped a little bit before saying, “Thank you both for how much you’ve done for me. I can never repay you, but I promise to do what I can to offer the same care to others.”
Nanny was unable to speak, but Cook suffered from no such inhibitions. Her hands on Corda’s shoulders in a gentle yet firm grip, Cook gave the young woman a small shake, saying, “I know you will, sweetheart. It’s part of your loving heart, and you’re better than this family deserves.”
Nanny protested, saying, “Roby, you shouldn’t say things like that. You’re going to get into trouble!”
Cook just made a disgusted sound and concentrated on Corda. Staring at the young girl as if her belief could fill up the aching reservoir at the core of the child’s soul, Cook hugged the young girl once more, and then pushed her back, saying, “A nice little basket has been included in your luggage. Even though you’re not a teenage boy, you will be hungry, and I wanted you to have something that would remind you of my kitchen.”
Corda gave a wet chuckle and said, “I remember that you did the same thing for Bertor. He was so happy you had done that because he couldn’t stand to eat any of the food that the Academy served for almost 2 weeks.”
“I don’t think you’ll be that bad, but I know that you probably won’t eat before you leave, and you’ll be hungry after you get settled.”
Shaking a little and with eyes filled with tears, Corda gave Nanny and Cook one more hug before following the footman carrying her luggage down to the first floor. The young girl knew it was time to leave, and bowing to the inevitable left the home of her youth without a backward glance.
Chapter 2 – Arrival and Registration
Corda was pulled out of her reverie when the Watern driver stopped the family limousine at the front door of the Barkin Prime Academy of Magical Disciplines. Feeling more than a little bit shaky, the young girl got out of the car and watched as the driver pulled her bags from the trunk and piled them on the curb.
Looking around her, Corda realized that most of the incoming students had family and friends with them. She watched as parents hugged and fussed over their children, some of them unobtrusively wiping tears from their eyes. The girl was numb, watching the emotional interaction and wondering what that would feel like.
A voice intruded, startling Corda, and she turned to look at the driver who met her eyes briefly and then stared at the ground as he said, woodenly, “I am sorry, young Miss, but your father has summoned me back immediately. I am sure that there are people here that will assist you. Good luck.” With no more interaction, the man darted back into the vehicle and drove off.
Fear and uncertainty clamped down on Corda’s chest, and she felt like she couldn’t breathe. What do I do now? she thought to herself in panic. Her heart was pounding, and dark spots and flashes of light fought to overwhelm her vision.
All Corda could hear was her own fear swirling around her like a big rushing wind trying to smash her fragile body into pieces scattered on the ground. Once again, she focused on controlling her breathing. In and out, in and out, the young girl held on to the sound of her own breath as an anchoring mechanism.
Sliver by sliver, Corda fought off the panic attack. The young girl knew that sweat was trickling down her forehead and from her neck down the middle of her back, but she knew that she was winning her fight. Finally opening her eyes, the young girl looked around, trying to see how others were getting their luggage into the school.
Most of the people had friends and family to help them, but the freshman student saw that there were some people assisting with luggage that looked like they were wearing a uniform. Perhaps, these are people from the Academy, and I can get them to help me.
Before she could gather her courage to ask any of those busy people what she should do, Corda heard a voice asking her, “Hello there. You look as new as I am, and it appears that you need some help. I would be happy to assist you if that’s okay?”
The young girl looked at the source of the voice in shock, surprised that anyone would be helpful to her. She saw a somewhat gangly young man, wearing glasses and managing to still look slightly unkempt even though he is wearing expensive clothing. His earnest face and beautiful silvery gray eyes were looking at her expectantly.
“Thank you, the driver had to leave, and I honestly don’t know what to do. It is the first time I’ve ever been away from home, and I don’t even know who to ask,” she answered.
Soundin
g more assured, the young man said comfortingly, “Don’t worry. I can get the guys that just carried my stuff to take yours also. Then the two of us can go together to figure out where we register.”
Corda managed a trembling smile, and she saw an answering flash of muted joy in her new friend’s face. Extending her hand out in a pattern of manners that had been drilled into her from the time that she was barely able to walk, Corda said, “I am so sorry. I should’ve introduced myself. I am Corda Watern.”
The young man smiled back even more broadly and carefully took her small hand in his automatically. In the same sort of drilled social response, he answered, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Corda Watern. I am Gerald Athald, and a first-year student here at the Academy.”
Just then, two men in an understated livery of black with charcoal gray accents came out and approached Gerald. Before they could speak, the young man said in an assured tone, “This is my friend Corda Watern. Her driver was called away in an emergency, and she has no one to carry her luggage to her room. Please take all of it and get it to her room for us and let me know when it’s done.”
Corda was amazed when the men turned without a word and begin to move her luggage. The young girl knew that she didn’t have a lot of items to carry, but between the two large men, everything was picked up and moving before she could even start to help them.
Gerald waved her toward the front door, saying, “I have been told that there is a registration desk for us and that there should be signs to let us know where to go. How about if the two of us see if we can figure out where to pick up our information packets.”
Gratefully, Corda followed his lead, responding to his tentative conversation and relaxing even more as she realized that this kind man was helping her without any nastiness or ridicule. The young girl could feel her tense muscles relaxing, and some of her worry going away as they walked. Soon, she was prattling on about how her oldest brother had graduated from the Academy, and her second oldest brother was an upperclassman and in his last year.
Smiling, Gerald told her that he was the youngest of nine sons and that none of his brothers had attended the Academy. They had either gone into private apprenticeships or been tutored at home. He was the first one that had wanted to get a formal education, and since his Magical talent was not highly demanded or very prestigious, his parents had not objected to him attending the Academy.