Ethon (The Other Worlds Series Book 2)

by M. L. Greye

  He flashed her a handsome smile. “Call it whatever you want.”

  She lowered her eyebrows. “Why did you break into my house?”

  “I wasn’t aware you knew.” The smile faded. “I wanted to find that picture I saw of you.”

  “Why?” She stared.

  “Remember that book I told you about?” He asked. “It belongs to the man whose class I tutor for. Your birthmark is on the front cover of it.”

  Olinia could feel herself gaping. “What?”

  Her birthmark was a Balnorrean knot. It was the symbol of High Royalty in the Other Worlds. Why, and how, would a teacher in Ethon have a book with the Balnorrean knot on the front of it? There must be some sort of mistake.

  “I can still show you it,” he replied. “Come to DS with me. Come be with people like us.”

  “People like us,” she repeated, lingering on the last word for a second longer. There were more gifted Ethons?

  “DS is a place for our kind,” he went on. “It’s where we can train and strengthen our abilities without having to hide them.” He paused. “Come join us.”

  That uneasy feeling was only growing with each new word he spewed at her. She glanced over her shoulder at Will. His gray eyes were clear and bright. He had no clue as to what was happening to her. She frowned and asked Porter, “Are you doing this too?”

  “Doing what?”

  “Pausing time,” she turned back to him. “Can you pause time too?”

  He gave her a strange look. “No one can pause time.”

  Olinia realized what was going on. Porter was transmitting an image into her mind. The way he managed to get past her mental barriers was through transferring his gift by touch. That student who had bumped into her was Porter. He must not have moved on like she’d thought. She was under the power of his gift. She’d heard of some Eves being able to convey images and whole conversations within a moment through touching another person. Porter had to have a similar gift. This meant though that he still had his hand on her arm. In order to get out of this frozen panorama, she would need to break free of his grasp.

  “I don’t want to go with you to DS, Porter,” she told him. “I really have no desire to cultivate my gift with them.”

  “DS wants you.”

  She licked her lips. “I don’t care.”

  He chuckled. “I don’t think you understand. When DS wants you that means you go. You belong at DS, Olinia.”

  “You’re wrong,” she retorted. “I don’t even belong in your world.”

  Before Porter could respond, Olinia shifted her focus inward. Then, with all the energy she could muster, she shot out fire through her pores. Olinia felt the immediate disruption of Porter’s concentration followed by a cry of shock from the pain. The world soared back into motion – students hustling on – and Olinia’s mind overflowed once more with useless prattle.

  Porter leaped away from her, clutching the injured hand to his chest. The poor man’s eyes were wide and gaping. He’d obviously not expected her to escape him. He whirled and tore off through the oncoming traffic of bodies.

  Olinia wasn’t about to let him go, though. For some reason, she needed to know more about this DS place. Only a minute before, she’d thought it a school for the brainy not a school for the gifted. On impulse, Olinia threw out one hand and yanked Porter back toward her by her unseen force. He stopped mid-step, toppling onto the pavement.

  “What are you doing?” Will hissed.

  She was making a scene. Some of the passersby had slowed to almost a complete stop to watch. They’d seen Porter fly backward as if with an invisible rope. One guy offered Porter a hand to get up, but Porter was in no shape to accept it. He was flailing his arms to break her grasp on him.

  “Olinia,” Will grabbed onto her elbow and bent his head so that his mouth was near her ear, “let him go.”

  Nia? Zedgry’s voice rang louder than the rest inside her head.

  Not a good time to chat, Zedge.

  What’s going on? He was confused. We just arrived.

  A tingling sensation washed over Olinia’s entire body. It was as if every muscle inside of her were about to fall asleep. This really was not the time to be connected with her twin.

  I’ve got to go, she sent him and severed their internal link. She’d deal with explaining things to him later.

  The sensation was growing stronger. Her legs began to feel weak, like they would collapse beneath her at any moment. Her body wasn’t doing this on its own though. This was the work of the gifted, but it was the sort that was used for the purpose of combat. Olinia had never touched such gifts. It was what Eveon warriors delved into.

  Olinia scanned the crowd for an accomplice to Porter, both with her eyes and inner ear, listening for any thoughts about herself. Beside her, Will looked as if he were about ready to drag her away. She chose to ignore him for a little longer as her gaze landed on a black-haired woman with dark skin and marbled brown eyes, perched on a nearby bench. The woman was sitting so still she could have been a statue, completely concentrated on one person – Olinia.

  There was no easy way out of this one. Olinia had contracted a crowd and her legs and internal force holding Porter prisoner would give out at any moment. Just one idea came to mind, but it would be far from inconspicuous. Then again, she didn’t really see any other choice. Without any better options, Olinia decided it was time to employ her newest gift – one Will wasn’t even aware she had. She wasn’t about to be overpowered by these Ethons. They should never have played with a Wend.

  She glanced up at Will. “Be ready to run.”

  Will opened his mouth to reply, but he was too slow. Olinia gave into the woman’s gift and dropped into a crouch, her legs consumed by the numbness. She released her hold on Porter and pressed both hands onto the cement pathway between buildings. Porter jumped up to his feet again, glaring. He took a step towards her, but Olinia knew he’d never reach her. Taking a deep breath and fully aware that she was about to reveal herself to the world, she once again focused her attention inward, finding the core of her being. She shut her eyes, concentrating on building up the energy inside of her. When she’d gained enough strength, her eyes opened. Then, she discharged her version of a shock wave through her fingertips, releasing the energy into the ground. The earth instantly rumbled in response.

  The cement cracked beneath the feet of Olinia’s crowd as the ground rolled upward and down. Cries of confusion and surprise broke out. The woman’s concentration on Olinia broke, setting her free. The distraction had worked.

  Olinia leaped up. “Run!” She screamed to Will.

  Will didn’t have to be told twice. He darted after Olinia, quickly overtaking her, and began leading the way with her behind him. They were heading back the way they had come – back to the car. What had just happened? Since when could Olinia start an earthquake?

  He tossed a look over his shoulder and noticed that most of the throng had dispersed, running away like he and Olinia were doing. Some though had pulled out their phones to record the commotion. Hopefully none of them got Olinia starting it. At least no one appeared to be following him and Olinia.

  Panting heavily, they reached Olinia’s car and dove inside. “Go, go, go!” She shouted, staring out the back window.

  Will shoved the keys into the ignition and shifted the clutch into reverse. “When did you learn to do that?”

  “I had no choice,” she gasped in for air, ignoring his question, “I wasn’t about to go with Porter to DS.”

  “That was Porter?” Will blurted, peeling out of the parking lot. He wasn’t sure why she felt like she’d have to go anywhere with that guy.

  “We’ve got to go get Legann,” she exclaimed. “They know he’s my brother.”

  Will stared at her. “Who knows?”

  “DS.” She met his gaze. “They’re after the gifted.”

  : : : : :

  Zedgry yawned as he trudged through the gate off his airplane. For the past ten
or so hours, he had endured security, crowds, tight spaces, airline food, and boredom. It was only one in the afternoon, but Zedgry was already exhausted. He was starting to wonder if Ethon travel was actually any better than that of the Other Worlds. True, a horse wore him out after sitting on it all day, but it didn’t generally make him itch to punch the next person to annoy him. A horse just made him sore.

  “Now for the easy part.” Trenton smiled as he moved alongside Zedgry, a small duffel bag in hand.

  “It really feels great to walk again,” Zedgry grumbled.

  Trenton chuckled. “Did you tell your sister we’re here?”

  “Not yet.”

  Zedgry knew that Trenton was referring to silent communication. Over the past few days, he and Olinia had been reaching out to the other’s mind. It was simple enough now that they were in the same realm and not subject to Vrenyx shields.

  Releasing a sigh, Zedgry ventured into the familiar space of his sister’s mind. There were no mental barriers for him to bypass. They kept their inner connection open at all times.

  Nia?

  Not a good time to chat, Zedge.

  What’s going on? Zedgry frowned. We just arrived.

  I’ve got to go.

  Suddenly she was gone, the connection lost. Zedgry turned to Trenton. “Something’s wrong.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Olinia closed our connection,” he whispered. “I think she’s in trouble.”

  The elderly man watched him intently. “Well, we’re not too far from the house. We’ll sort things.” He extended his mobile phone to Zedgry. “Try to ring Will.”

  “Alright.” Anxiety crept over Zedgry as he accepted the phone. What sort of trouble could his twin possibly get into in Ethon?

  11

  ------------------

  Legann was more anxious than usual for his classes to finish. It was causing him to pay even less attention to his Ethon studies than normal. It was hard to focus, knowing that the brother he had never met would arrive within the hour. His thoughts kept drifting to questions about what his brother was like.

  It didn’t help that he was more than just a little excited to return to the Other Worlds. He would be going home within the next twenty-four hours. It was both alarming and invigorating. It’d been basically two years since he’d last been in the Other Worlds. As he and Olinia had discussed before, at the moment, he felt more like an Ethon than an Other Worlder. Yet, he still wanted to go home.

  His mixed emotions kept him up for much of the night before. Not wanting to wait around the rest of the morning and afternoon with the same feelings, Legann had decided to go to school for one last day as a distraction. He was regretting that decision now though. School was not working as a distraction, and, unfortunately, Legann was only halfway through his classes for the day. There were still several hours of school ahead of him, and Legann was no longer able to skim by unnoticed.

  When Legann spouted his tragic life story the week before, he became the favored gossip topic of the entire student body, as well as half the school’s faculty. He had the growing suspicion that some of the teachers he passed in the hall eyed him with a thousand unasked questions. Once again, Legann wished he had his sister’s gift of hearing human minds.

  The worst part about his newfound fame was that it was all done supposedly behind his back. Legann only knew everyone was talking about him from little snippets of conversation he managed to overhear wherever he went. Oddly enough though, no one had confronted him about his dark past. Instead, they all preferred to gawk at him from a distance. Even Lillie, who Legann had assumed to be a new friend, was avoiding him, returning to her lonely place on the outskirts of society. She didn’t care to be seen with the school’s spectacle.

  Legann sighed and continued to doodle on his notebook. At the front of the class, Mr. Erik Phillips, was explaining what a polygraph was used for in criminal cases. It seemed like a stretch topic to Legann, since Phillips was supposed to be teaching American Government. True, the justice system was a part of government, but to Legann, spending an entire week on police departments seemed a little much. Legann guessed that Phillips was trying to bask in a life he wished he could trade his own for.

  Unfortunately for Phillips, Legann wasn’t really in the mood to indulge his teacher’s career regrets. Instead, he purposely ignored the monologue up front and focused all his attention on his drawing. He must have fallen into some sort of stupor, though, because in what seemed like just a few seconds, his teacher was calling his name irritably.

  “Legann?”

  “Yes?” He raised his eyes from his desk and blinked. Phillips was no longer alone at the front. A uniformed policeman was standing beside Phillips, rigging something together next to an empty chair. The chair was what worried Legann. It was centered in the front of the class for all eyes to witness.

  “Since you seem so disinterested in what I’ve been saying, perhaps being our first volunteer would spark your curiosity,” Phillips smirked.

  Dread spread through Legann’s insides as he stared at Phillips. The smug look on his face didn’t flatter his pale almost translucent skin and orange hair. Nor did it make the mustache that matched his hair look any less ridiculous.

  “Volunteer for what?” Legann asked slowly.

  The class snickered at his question, but Legann cared very little about what they thought. Phillips snorted. “To show the class how a polygraph works in person.”

  Legann grimaced. So that was it. Phillips wanted him to be put into a lie detector so the whole class could learn the truth of his past. “I’d rather not.”

  Phillips seemed to be expecting this answer. “Class participation is thirty percent of your grade.”

  “Then I guess I’ll fail,” Legann retorted. What did he care? He’d be ditching Ethon long before summer.

  “I’d rather not have you retake my class in summer school, Mr. Reien,” Phillips shot back. “Come be our first volunteer. I promise it’s quite painless.”

  Perfect. Legann felt slightly ill, but stood anyway and made his way to the front, taking a seat in the chair with an audience. Bolting to the door didn’t really seem like a logical option.

  As the cop began to hook him up to the machine, Legann’s eyes caught with Hillary’s. She was in the second row on the left side of the class, facing Legann. The rest of the students were watching him with grins on their faces, excited for something entertaining to occur in Phillips’s otherwise boring class. Hillary wasn’t smiling – she looked concerned. The look surprised Legann. Why would she worry about him?

  “Alright, let’s begin.” Phillips’ voice pulled Legann’s gaze away from Hillary. “Officer Jansen, let me know when he’s ready for questions.”

  “Go ahead,” the cop murmured.

  “Excellent,” Phillips beamed. “Now, class, we’ll begin with some simple questions so you can watch the monitor to see which is a lie and which is truth.”

  Legann strained his neck to see the monitor that the officer was showing the class, but it was too far forward on the desk for him to get a good view. This might have been done on purpose though so that he wouldn’t be able to observe the outcome of his own words.

  Phillips turned to Legann. “Tell us, what is your name?”

  “Legann Reien.”

  “Great.” Phillips pointed at the monitor. “See? This is what a truth looks like. Now, Legann, answer incorrectly on this next question so we can see the difference. What color eyes do you have?”

  Legann rolled his eyes and lied, “My eyes are blue.”

  “Splendid.” Phillips grinned.

  “Am I done?” Legann tried his luck.

  “Of course not,” Phillips blustered. “We’ve only just begun.” He returned his attention to the class. “What shall we ask him next?”

  A blonde girl, named Rachel Dante, in the first row raised her hand. When Phillips gestured for her to speak, she said, “Did your parents really die the day you were
born?”

  Legann winced inwardly. It had begun. He didn’t like this one bit. “Yes, they did. But I don’t think I should have to answer questions like that,” he replied coldly.

  “No, you don’t,” Phillips assured. “Let’s keep the questions light. Legann can pick which questions he wants to answer the truth to and we can see if we can figure out if he’s lying.”

  A pimple-faced sophomore boy in the middle of the classroom that Legann couldn’t remember the name of raised his hand next. “Where did you grow up?”

  This was keeping it light? Legann decided to lie on this one. “I was raised on the moon.”

  A couple students giggled as another hand shot up. “Have you ever killed someone?” A familiar voice asked.

  Legann whirled to Hillary. Once again their eyes locked. It was almost as if she were challenging him not to answer. Did she know something about him? For a brief moment Legann panicked. He had in fact killed before. That was the outcome of participating in a war. But Hillary would have had no way to know that about him. She was most likely just trying to make him uncomfortable in an attempt to get back at him for yelling at her in the cafeteria. Well, he wasn’t about to be caught in her game.

  He winked at her. “Not with my bare hands.”

  A knock sounded on the classroom’s door, causing everyone to turn. A middle-aged woman who Legann recognized to be the school’s office receptionist opened the door, a flustered look on her face.

  Phillips blinked. “Can we help you?”

  The woman appeared startled to find Legann attached to a machine, but said, “Principal Harney would like to see Legann Reien.”

  It was the summoning Legann had been half-anticipating since his outbreak in the cafeteria. Mrs. Eliza J. Harney was his high school’s principal. News of his episode had surely reached her ears by now.

  Releasing his breath in a rush, Legann glanced up at Phillips for instruction. “Yes, yes, you must go. Get your things.”

  Once freed from the polygraph, Legann retrieved his notebook from his desk. For the hundredth time that week he had the feeling of many eyes on his back as he stepped through the room to the door and waiting receptionist. He noticed Hillary was watching him with that concerned look again as he left.