VECTOR (The Weaver Series Book 3)

by Vaun Murphrey

  “I slapped your son after he almost died with Gerome and some of the other guards in the storm. Mainly because I was relieved he was still alive, but mostly because I was angry at the close call. I’m sure it won’t be the last dangerous thing he does and I’ll probably hit him harder next time.”

  Kevin tugged her into the crook of his arm and her forehead leaned against the side of his chest. Melody said nothing, just stood holding the twins, oozing menacing, impotent anger. I had enough problems—they were going to have to figure this out on their own.

  Maggie started forward, and David asked, “Wait, don’t Nicky and I need to stay here and pack some things to take?”

  Kal shook his head. “I would suggest we all stay together. Things may seem settled but this would be the perfect time for your enemy to strike. Possessions can be replaced but people cannot.”

  Maggie jabbed a thumb in my mentor’s direction. “What Tall said.”

  Melody asked softly, “I thought you said his name was Kal?”

  I tugged on the bottom of our coat sleeves. “Apparently Maggie’s picked up a bad habit from your brother.”

  Kal gave a long blink before saying, “I do not mind. It is better than ‘damn ninja alien’ is it not?”

  Maggie laughed in the lead as we all started forward again. Mez reached down and lifted an unconscious Cora Harris from her cot, then threw her over one broad shoulder. Shark-like predatory eyes gleamed in the fluorescent lighting as he motioned he would follow, and then disappeared as a light field rolled over him from head to foot.

  Silver whispered, “You be careful and I’ll be careful…deal?”

  Faintly, from ‘empty’ air, came Mez’s response. “Deal.”

  James and Kara flanked us as we walked down the wide aisle between cots and our footsteps synced into a matching rhythm. Kara’s bounce was back and I was glad to see it. James wore a stern and thoughtful look, showing evidence his train of thought was traveling miles and miles away.

  Spontaneously I grabbed a hand each and squeezed to get their attention. “Thank you for the assist earlier. We couldn’t have helped Corinne handle Cora without you. You kinda saved the day and all that.”

  Silver inserted a rough, “I wouldn’t go that far.”

  Kara surprised Silver, jabbing back. “Shut it, girlie. I’ll take the praise.”

  James said nothing, giving just the suggestion of a smile, but his hand tightened in our grasp then held firm as if he were telling me with body language everything he couldn’t say at the moment.

  Maggie held the swinging doors open for us all to pass through into the vacant counter area. Nicky was gone. My aunt shrugged at David, then ordered, “Go check the Web and see if she left with everyone to the cafeteria. Maybe she felt the need to shepherd her flock?”

  David nodded, longer hair brushing the collar of his shirt and closed his eyes to check on Nicky’s whereabouts.

  There was a strange, sad, deserted quality to the infirmary that made me want to hold our breath. Maggie ran a hand over the smoothly varnished but worn counter top with a resigned reluctance. Lavender scented the air lightly, but an underlying coppery smell hovered too, making us frown.

  David was back in the now with an alarmed look on his face. “I can’t find her. She isn’t responding. Why wouldn’t she respond?”

  With a sinking feeling I passed through the propped open counter flap and saw blood on the floor before we were slammed from the right into the far wall. Something cracked, as our head bounced off the edge of a shelf, like an alligator snapping its jaws closed on a bone.

  Stupid, so stupid.

  While we’d been in the back sorting out our little dramas, Nicky had been quietly killed. The sunny day nurse with patience and a brightly encouraging smile for everyone, no matter their problem, was dead because we let our guard down. No ozone was in the air, so most likely our unknown assailant had cloaked themselves in a light field and snuck in when the refugees headed out to the cafeteria.

  A hand lifted us from the floor where we’d collapsed and our body hung limp as we tried to think of a plan. Our arms weren’t responding. Perhaps our spine was hurt when we hit the shelves? Panic trilled through us. Silver scrambled into the Web, trusting me to stall, so she could attempt to fix the physical damage in time.

  Sharply, the invisible hand gripping our throat was torn away and as our body crashed helplessly to the floor again, my line of sight picked up James as he grappled with an invisible foe. Kal stepped forward, judged the tussle and scored a hit that caused a muffled oomph, allowing James to break free, then Kal slipped in to take his place.

  Cora Harris suddenly became visible, laid out on the wooden counter, as Mez I would presume, since he still had his light field engaged, leapt into the fray. The conflict was over almost as soon as it started, ending with a gush of ozone and several creative swearing phrases from the two remaining Axsians. Two more puffs of ozone floated through the air and the nearly forgotten councilwoman was gone as well.

  Melody yelled over the hysterically screaming twins in her arms, “Oh my God! What the hell is going on?”

  Kal turned our direction, cocked his head at the unnatural angle of our neck and barked at Maggie, “Your nieces are hurt.”

  My aunt rushed over, almost slipping on the bloody floor but not noticing in her haste what the moisture was from. No one was looking at Nicky’s dead body yet, but I could see. The deceased nurse’s once lively, kind features were blank and her eyes stared at nothing while nothing stared back in return. A clean gash went across her throat in a perfect imitation of Gerome’s. Blood puddled all over the brown wood of the waiting area and each individual droplet jumped out three dimensionally when our sight singled it out.

  I knew who did this.

  If we survived I would be taking my time with his death. Tears made my eyes burn. I tried to blink them away, but it seemed I had lost the ability to control even that most basic of body functions either due to my injuries or Silver’s ministrations. Our heart began to falter and I thought weakly to Silver, “You better hurry.” I could feel a burn somewhere at the base of our skull and it increased to what I imagined as the heat level of a crematorium.

  Silver stressed, “Don’t frackin’ move no matter how bad it hurts. Of course, I doubt we can anyway from the neck down. I can’t break my concentration any more than I am. Go in the Web and tell Maggie we need Kara and James. We had juice but it’s dropping fast while I work. Be quick!”

  My brain responded sluggishly, as if the wires were misfiring, but I managed to connect to the Web and search out Maggie’s presence to give it a tug. She’d been leaning over me trying to get a verbal response but of course we couldn’t do that yet. Her hearth bright orange light burned with an intense concern before me and I thought out, weakly, “Get Kara and James for energy. Don’t move me. The injury is spinal and Silver is working on it as fast as she can. I’m sorry if we die. I’m sorry Nicky died. Love you more than…”

  Then I couldn’t hold the connection anymore.

  My mind sank back to the now just in time for agony to transfigure our body into a masterpiece of misery. Silver released whatever hold she had on our functions and our lids lowered blessedly, saving our eyes from the dry air. She was working her magic with her interior cellular dance but it was delicate and I could feel her worry. Neither one of us wanted to spend our life a quadriplegic.

  When I opened our eyes again, I could see Kara, James and Maggie hovering. A slow creeping of energy oozed up our neck as the protective veneer of Corinne’s shield covered our face. At least if they came back for a second hit we’d all be under wraps. If only we’d thought of it sooner. Nicky would probably still be dead, but Silver and I wouldn’t be wasting time laid out on the floor as an invalid.

  Kara and James were touching us somewhere on our body that we still couldn’t feel but the circuit of power was closed because it made our teeth swim and vibrate in our mouth. I’d never noticed that before, maybe it w
as just because our physical senses were so limited. I was going to have to ask somebody to scratch our nose in a minute, because it was tingling from the upsurge.

  All of these random observations kept my brain occupied as I tried to remain still and ignore the excruciating, billowing, reign of pain radiating from our spine. Nerves were awesome when they operated as they should, but not so much when they were broken.

  My earlier unease rekindled about a course of events that was already in motion. Why hit us now? What else was our enemy up to while we were trapped here, getting back on our feet so to speak? I opened our mouth unsure if our voice box would work, being careful not to move our neck as I spoke. “Kal or Mez, someone needs to go check on Gerome. Right now.”

  Visions of Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride sprang to mind, in one of the scenes where he was still only partly dead. Our head wasn’t flopping around but I did have a giant, or two. My childhood had had some bright points here and there. Watching that movie with our parents on rainy days had been one of the brightest.

  Mez reacted first, absently touching his arm, probably trying to figure out Corinne’s shield, as he came into view. “My Leoght Cor is healing?”

  Irritated, I snarled at the waste of time. “Yes, go. Corinne can protect us.”

  Kal leaned next to Mez, looking over the crouched Lees. “We will go.”

  They both blinked out, leaving the strong scent of ozone at the double teleportation. Under that smell I could now pick up the tang of blood. I didn’t have as clear a view to Nicky’s body anymore, but I could see David move in the direction of her corpse with a stark white sheet. No one wanted the twins to see. Reb and Ray were quiet and I had to assume Melody had them still since I couldn’t see them from our vantage.

  I was amazed at Maggie’s silence and then I realized she was still in the Web colluding with Silver and offering advice or support.

  With shuttered eyes, James said, “So I guess I take point from now on?”

  Corinne crawled over the counter to sit, dangling her legs from the exact spot her mother had disappeared from. “No. That would be my job. From now on we’re a unit and I’m in charge of security. In hostile situations you will not leave my side until you’re shielded, understood? I’ll take your stunned silence as assent.”

  Kara turned without breaking contact in our power loop to say, “Listen here, Miss Thang. I didn’t agree to you being the boss of me! Silver and Cass have probably already absorbed your talent anyway so who needs you!”

  If I could have shaken our head I would’ve but I was limited to a quiet, “We need her, Kara. That shield requires concentration to manipulate and it would be better if just one person did that, like an anchor or a safety net.”

  James snorted. “My, how times have changed. You trust her?”

  I only meant to flick our eyes in Corinne’s direction but I felt our right arm spasm as well in an involuntary gesture.

  Silver’s voice erupted, “I told you not to move!”

  I thought back, feeling more clearheaded now that the nerve fry was calming down, “How long, Silver? What’s the damage?”

  Out loud my sister elaborated, “We took a hit to the head but that was only a concussion, so no bigs, but the spinal damage was bad. A vertebrate snapped and the broken pieces put too much pressure on a section of our spinal column. Momma’s working, so quit moving and shut your yap. I’ll be done when I’m done. Long story short…we’ll live.”

  David walked up, looking pale and emotionally distressed as he whispered, “Nicky’s parents need to know. They may have felt something already but someone has to tell them. Do we involve the police?”

  Melody spoke up, voice struggling for calm, “We can’t stay in here with the kids. How soon until you get ambulatory Cass?”

  Kevin spoke up, hesitant, “Mom, I can walk you guys to the cafeteria if Corinne’s shield will stretch but otherwise we need to be together like Kal said. They got Nicky because she was alone. I’m not taking any chances with Maggie’s kids…or you.”

  My toes had a flash of feeling course through and then I felt the death grip Kara had on my hand. I squeezed back before saying, “Kara, can you ease up on your hold? I think you’re gonna cut off the circulation to my fingers.”

  Pins and needles began. It was torture not to wiggle our digits in relief. Silver had said no moving, but she wasn’t stuck out here with the fluctuating physical sensations, either.

  James turned worried eyes to the room. “Melody, call Malcolm in the Web and tell him, but if Kal and Mez are there he may already know. Let Gerome or Malcolm decide about the police. The only thing I care about is if Cass can walk again. The rest can wait.” His finely arched brows drew inward as he glanced at Maggie to make sure she was still in the Web with Silver. He murmured under his breath, “Why are you so worried about Gerome?”

  I almost shrugged our shoulders before I stopped myself and felt a joy at being able to feel that part of our body that made me want to smile, which didn’t fit the situation at all. I suppressed it to say, “Just a hunch.”

  Maggie’s eyes popped open and she gasped with a fist against her sternum as if her heart where bursting and I knew my hunch was confirmed. Her mouth opened in horror and her red face was wild. “Gerome!”

  Silver was back and desperate, shouting out of our mouth, “Kevin I need your memories of the compound damage so I know where it’s safe to ‘port. Get in the Web now.”

  Kara barked, “Corinne, do we all need to touch or will your shield connect us enough?”

  I interjected, “No chances, everybody gather and touch.”

  James asked, “Are you sure this is safe with your injury? You told me bending is the essence of movement.”

  I flexed the muscles in our back and gingerly moved our head side to side against the hard floor before sitting up. “No time. We’re good enough.”

  Silver thought at me, “I think I’ve got us square but I didn’t have time to check my work.”

  I arrowed back my response with a sense of gratitude along with an understanding of our dire straits at my twin. “We’ll see, won’t we?”

  Kara pulled me to my feet and James tugged my gasping aunt upright. Melody approached us, walking almost backward, forcing Reb and Ray’s faces into her neck to avoid the sight of Nicky’s sheet covered body. Little islands of crimson already decorated the linen.

  Kevin jumped over the counter in one impressive leap and Corinne hopped down from her sitting position. Everyone grabbed a hold of somebody and I whipped the energy cyclone to its screaming peak before using the memory of a clear area outside the cafeteria Kevin had supplied Silver.

  The edges of our vision didn’t crumble or pixilate away; one second we were inside the wooden reception area of the infirmary and the next crystalline cloudless blue sky arched in a massive dome over all of our heads. A burst of clean smelling air hit us all like a swat on the back of the head from an angry god but Corinne’s shield came back up preventing us from really feeling it.

  To our left sat the squat rectangular building that housed the cafeteria with its dull blue paint flaking off to reveal weathered gray-brown two by fours. We were on the side just out of sight of the main entrance. The double doors were propped open, and we could all hear a female someone yelling at the top of their lungs over the drone of many voices speaking at once.

  Silver snapped, “Melody, pass the kids to Maggie and David. Kevin, take rear guard and keep an eye on them. Corinne, you’re on point. Let’s go single file through the doors. I’ll check Mez’s Web presence and see if I can get an idea what’s going on before we go in.”

  Then she was gone.

  Then she was back and talking, “Mez is in the middle of it with the Axsian that hit us at the infirmary. Kal is going toe to toe with Shiva and Cora’s standing on a table with a bloody knife screaming at everyone. Malcolm’s with Gerome.”

  The last short sentence was said in a blur.

  My twin pushed the picture Mez
had shared of the oblong room filled with picnic tables and benches. People sat frozen, afraid to flee and get involuntarily involved in the furious melees of the four fighting Axsians as they ’ported around the cafeteria alternately popping in and out of sight as they used their light fields to their advantage, attempting to sneak in cloaked punches on one another.

  A few of the guard circled around Cora as if protecting her, but they didn’t seem absolutely sure of their mission especially since some of Malcolm and Melody’s Prana students were gathered around Gerome’s prone form on the floor. It looked like a classic standoff, but with the councilwoman’s side weakening by the moment.

  Out loud to the group I said, “Corinne’s in first and she’ll take her mother. Maggie, David, Kevin and the twins stay out of the way at the back wall. Melody, you have Corinne’s back, what she says goes. James and Kara you’re with us and we go straight to Malcolm. Let’s get.”

  We began to line ourselves up and just before Melody stepped in to block Corinne from our line of sight, I reached out an arm to tag the other girl’s shoulder. When she turned, eyebrows elevated in question, her face was totally devoid of emotion.

  Under our breath I asked, “Can you handle your mother?”

  Cold blue eyes gleaming in the bright sunshine of the day like a melting ice marbles, she nodded solemnly and then Melody turned from her sideways position in our lineup giving us a view of nothing but back.

  I brushed the Amazonian woman’s arm. “Corinne’s shield doesn’t make you invincible but it gives you a chance others wouldn’t have. You could still be separated from the group by teleportation, we’re not sure, but if someone lands a hit you won’t feel it. You got this?”

  Melody’s chin tucked down into her chest to give us her full attention, making tiny crinkles in the skin around her jawline as she said, “I’m old enough to be your mother. In fact, I went to school with her, so don’t ask me if I’ve got this. If Corinne can’t cope I’ll intervene, but I promise to try and let her disable Cora. It’ll look better for everyone if it happens like that, anyway.”