Halfblood Legacy

by Rheaume, Laura

  Rend nodded.

  “From where?”

  He shrugged, “Different places, different…”

  “Experiments?”

  Rend nodded minutely.

  Anora signaled from below and Scythe put his hand on the window frame. He would have liked to have talked to Rend more, but he had already endangered them enough. He hiked himself up to the ledge and swung a leg over.

  “I will watch over them and keep them safe,” Rend swore, laying his hand on the windowsill and gripping it tightly.

  Scythe said approvingly, “Then you’ve grown, as well, brother.” He lowered himself out of the window and then dropped to the ground. He raced after Anora and they disappeared into a newly rebuilt section of Poinsea.

  -----------

  “You have a visitor, Mistress Temper,” the nurse said, coming through the door and crossing to the portable table. She piled the assorted dishes and waste onto the lunch tray and picked it up. Then she put the vase of flowers back on the table where it usually sat. “Do you feel up to it?”

  “Certainly. Who is it?” Temper asked, sitting up in the hospital bed and feeling the usual twinge along her back. Her injuries had healed well, and now she merely waited for her body to stop acting like a sour-mouthed brat. It was taking its sweet time settling down.

  “The cookie delivery girl,” Aorin said from the door with a smile. She held up a clear bag filled with cookies and tied with a shiny green ribbon in the air. When Temper waved her in, she brought it over to the bed and placed it on Temper’s outstretched hands.

  “This is delightful. Thank you, Aorin. Shall we have one?”

  “Yes we shall,” Aorin grinned. “You look much better today.”

  “I feel better. I should be going home tomorrow or the next day.”

  “I’m sure that will please your husband.”

  “It will, and he sorely needs to be pleased right now.”

  “Still mad?”

  “I believe the term is enraged.”

  “I’ll bring you more cookies before you go.”

  “White chocolate, with nuts.”

  “Will do.”

  “Thank you. How are things?”

  “Busy. Soshia has returned my team to research, so you’ll have to check with her about the status of the rest of the operation. I think she has just about peeled Holder off her back from the Scythe thing.”

  Temper smiled, imagining what it must have been like for the power hungry intelligence officer to have a prize like that snatched out from under him. “You have had no word from Scythe?”

  “No, and no report about Tiburon, either. He said that if it was too difficult, he’d leave it. That’s what I encouraged him to do, and it looks like that’s what he did. My guess is that he’s back home by now.”

  “Good.” Temper was glad that things had worked out with him returned safely home. They had asked him to take a large risk with their operation and in good faith he had done so. She was relieved that his faith hadn’t been misplaced and that they had parted on good terms; it was a big improvement over the last time.

  “Will you be returning to work soon?”

  “Probably on a limited basis. My husband wants me home for a while, but we caught ourselves a pretty big fish in Three Reeds and I need to finish up with that.”

  Aorin laughed, “Big fish, that’s good. He looked like a fish, too, on the vid from the report: all pale and wide eyed!”

  “The counselor certainly didn’t expect our little trap, so it wasn’t his best moment. We’ve got enough to get him a few years at least and the exposure wasn’t good at all for their movement, especially with the explosives we confiscated and the Human’s testimony about how they were going to use the hostages. It’s going to take a while, though, with the court time and prep time, before I’m done with the job.”

  “Well, I’m available to help, Temper. Please call on me if you are in need.”

  “I will. Thank you.”

  “Well, I’m going to work myself. I’ll stop by tomorrow morning and visit again.”

  “That would be nice. Thank you again for the treats.” Temper held up the bag and shook it.

  “You’re welcome. My new thing is to bring snacks. It makes things just a little bit more cheery, don’t you think?”

  “Absolutely.” Temper waved good-bye and laid her head back on the pillow. She sighed. She already needed another nap. She was in bad shape if that little visit was enough to wear her out. No, she wasn’t twenty anymore. She turned her head and gazed at the purple flowers arranged so nicely in the crystal vase. Maybe her husband was right. Maybe it was time to let others do the running about.

  She closed her eyes, stretched out on the bed and smiled. Maybe. And then again, maybe not.

  -----------

  Mercy held the box in her lap, lightly running her fingers over the hand written words inscribed on the inside face. His style reflected the influence of years of Kin letter formation, with sweeping strokes for the d’s, h’s, and l’s. When he crossed his t’s, he sent the line curving over the other letters and then dove down to begin the next word. The i he dotted just above the letter, as if his pen skipped forward minutely, made it’s point, and then jumped back, sliding down the letter and continuing on. No need to come back for that little thing; it was already in the past. He liked to move forward.

  Three books had arrived that had been ordered and shipped home during the time he had been absent. The first had been checked by Ian, and disregarded because there was nothing obvious to find; the shipping slip had not been included in that order. The second book, which had not been opened, had a shipping label dated one and a half weeks before the one Mercy and Ian had found a handful of hours before. All three had messages penned by Scythe on the inside of the boxes, something that Ian hadn’t seen when he opened the box. He had written his notes before the boxes were folded and the books inserted, so they concluded that either someone at Orion Book Publishers was helping him, or he had done the shipping himself.

  Mercy basked in the high spirits of everyone around her. Faith had brought sweet rolls to the morning meeting, and Lena had shown up almost immediately afterwards with Smoke, no doubt following the smell. Then they had been joined by Anora, who had brought her husband Oak and his father, Hap.

  Except for the Kin, who were powerless, Mercy’s involuntary, thin strings of power were connected to each one of them, sending her every now and then tiny images or feelings; she was equally connected to the other powered Humans who were not in attendance. They were still sleeping in their rooms that early in the morning: Harmony and her daughter Miriam. She had been dealing with the tiny strings for over a week, and she had found that she could cope fairly well with the new information she was constantly being force fed by shuffling it to the back of her mind. Except for an occasional bright sensation, it was like having a quiet buzzing in the background all the time.

  If she wanted to, she could isolate a particular person by concentrating on the string that connected her to him. Since that aspect of her power was sensitive to the flow of the person’s power, she became aware of the echoes from the past, their status at the present moment, or the strong forward pull of things to come; if she wanted to, she could get an accurate sense of the person’s intentions or state that way, depending on what her power showed her. However, for the most part, she resisted the urge, since she considered it a violation of their privacy. When she wanted to work on strengthening her control, she worked with her family almost exclusively. In this way, she hoped to one day keep the strings from linking to others against her will.

  One handy side of her otherwise distracting talent was that she had learned how to change the ties that she already had connected to those around her into the thicker and more powerful ribbons that she had been using for years to communicate with her family. So, as long as someone was within her range, which was the entire house and quite a bit into the surrounding area, she could isolate the person and im
mediately open a connection. However, since only her mother, father and Aunt Lena even knew about the constant connection she had with the powered people around her, she only used that particular ability with them.

  It hadn’t escaped her that she could use that same technique in a more lethal way.

  “Let’s not worry about that,” Lena said, in response to Hap’s question about whether or not they had already compromised their security with the messages they had sent in the last month. Scythe’s first note, the one on the box in front of Mercy, clearly indicated that communication through typical means had become unsafe and that they should refrain from doing it until he returned. “We can’t do anything about that, and there are plenty of other things that we need to be concentrating on here.”

  “No, he’s right, Lena,” Ian disagreed. “If we have compromised ourselves, we have also endangered Hap and his family, as well as everyone who lives and works here. They deserve to know that, and have the opportunity to prepare themselves...”

  “For what? We don’t even know what the danger is from.”

  Mercy was starting to feel a small bubble of pressure build up, somewhere around her. It was tiny, but growing. She frowned, and felt around herself. Hmm. Maybe that was it.

  “I’ll be right back,” Mercy said, standing up and walking toward the door after handing her father the box she had been holding on to.

  “Where are you going, honey?” her mother asked quietly, reaching out and touching her arm when she passed by.

  “Are you feeling anything, Mom? Like, I don’t know, something pushing?” she asked in an equally small voice, so as not to disturb the others.

  Faith concentrated for a moment, and then said, “Um, no. What is it?”

  “Oh, I think it’s probably just another weird side effect. I get them all the time. But, Miriam is having a nightmare, so I’m going to go comfort her real quick.”

  “Do you want me to come with you?”

  “Naw, that’s okay. I’ll be right back.”

  Mercy left the study and headed straight for the stairs at a quick pace. It was nice to be moving, to be doing something. It mirrored her excitement, everyone's excitement, about the discovery of the three notes. They had been able to throw off the heavy feeling of powerlessness that had been hanging on them for weeks. Now they wanted to see how fast their new, light bodies could run. Everyone wanted to do something, be the one to go to the city to investigate, to get some answers.

  The first note had been short:

  Am investigating threats to the strap. There is a possibility of danger to all Humans. Also, our methods aren’t as secure as I thought, so discontinue messaging until I return, esp. to her. Will be a lot longer, sorry.

  The strap referred to the Scere. One meaning associated with the Kin word was a short piece of leather that was used to hit domesticated animals to keep them in line. It was an accurate term, as the Scere watched over and controlled the Humans in a very similar way, down to the increasingly more frequent smack. “Her” was without a doubt Mercy, which was cause for some of the tension in the room behind her. They were all on edge because had already corresponded with her, not knowing at the time that they could be traced. Because of this, they didn’t know if their position was already compromised.

  The frustration they felt came from not knowing if they had already somehow exposed themselves to the forces that were always looking for them: the Kin and Human governments, the Scere, and other entities like the one behind Chromatic Technologies who were studying or using powered individuals. The law was after Scythe and Cord, although they hadn’t felt the pressure from that in quite a while; the big searches had been called off, and now they were merely flagged for pick up.

  The Scere wanted Scythe and Cord for disciplinary action, too, but they wouldn’t hesitate to use either one again for their purposes if they got the chance. Both men had strong abilities that they wanted to utilize. The Scere would also take the opportunity to get their hands on any of the Youngs, and had even in the past attempted to acquire Mercy, her dad and her aunt. Her family's retreat to the remote valley had allowed them to escape from that particular nightmare.

  The last groups they were avoiding were the various independent entities that were looking to profit from the use of the increasingly vulnerable powered Humans. Any organization with decent researchers would have Ian and Lena on a list of wanted subjects. It had been common knowledge in the border patrol among the people that they worked with that the brother and sister had special abilities. They had used them openly on assignments, in defiance of the long-standing taboo on even discussing the mysterious gifts; they were very unusual in that because few Humans would admit to having powers in the days before Mercy was born. Ironically, Chromatic Technologies didn’t even know that they had stumbled upon the daughter of one of the people listed in their own database as a “significantly talented user.” If they had, security would have been much tighter on her. Of course, that wouldn’t have stopped Cord, but it might have made things more challenging for him.

  Mercy wondered how he was doing...what he was doing...and if she had been able to get through to him the way she wanted to. She shook her head, trying to let it go. It was done, now, anyway. She would have to wait and see what he decided.

  On the second floor, she passed many of the rooms that housed her large, extended family. Miriam and her mother, Harmony, were the only other Humans besides Mercy and her relatives that lived there. The Kin from Poinsea included the women who had wanted to provide a safe home for their halfblood children and what family members had come with them. Hap’s children and their families along with several of the Kin that worked the winery took up the rest of the house.

  She passed her own room, which she shared Will. A tiny thread didn’t extend from her into that room, since the ten year old didn’t have any power to attract one. They were waiting to see if he would develop any in the next few years. She almost wished he wouldn’t, after all the trauma her own powers had given her. She sent an idle ribbon through the wall, brushing her sleeping brother lightly. He was deep in sleep and didn’t stir; she sent him a small, gentle hug and then pulled away.

  Miriam shared a room with her mother, who was both a long time friend and one time enemy of Mercy's family. Mercy remembered clearly what it had been like being under Harmony’s care when she and her aunt had been kidnapped long ago. The woman had been very kind, but also moody. Mercy now understood that her irregular behavior was due to carrying so much guilt for having betrayed her friends Ian and Lena. She had cooperated with the Scere because they had held her daughter ransom. Having betrayed people she cared about herself, Mercy felt she understood Harmony better than anyone else, and they got along well enough.

  Sometimes she got the feeling that her family, especially Lena, still held a grudge for what had happened. It was not in how they acted towards her, it was more a feeling that Mercy picked up on, probably from the way she was connected to everyone. It unnerved Lena to know that, if it came down to it, Harmony would ditch them all, and do whatever it took to safeguard her daughter. Unlike her aunt, Mercy wouldn’t blame her at all if she did something like that. She knew what love would drive a person to do.

  When love took the wheel, it didn’t listen to back seat drivers, and it didn’t obey the law. It was the worst kind of driver: completely self involved and oblivious of those around it. The windows were tinted so dark it couldn't see out anyway, except through the front windshield. It was always speeding, swerving around those who were leisurely, mechanically making their way through life. It was dangerous, letting love have its way with the car, but if a person could make it to her destination…If she made it, then she would look down at the trashed car and the string of accidents that were splayed all over the road behind her, and she might feel bad about that for a minute. Then she would feel a strong hand gently take up hers, look into sea green eyes, and forget every thought she ever had. Except for one.

  Mercy cra
cked open the door and went into the room. She already knew that both Miriam and Harmony were swimming deeply in the night’s dark sea. Harmony’s power flashed her an image of working at a desk, signing papers, but Miriam was thrashing in cold water. Mercy knelt by her, touching her softly on the forehead and strengthening her tie to the young girl.

  Miriam, shhhh. The girl, who would turn thirteen within months, woke up and quickly recognized her early morning visitor despite her disorientation.

  Mercy. Miriam said, holding onto Mercy with her mind, something that still amazed the older woman. Although Mercy could share the feeling of a hug, Miriam’s power, a shadow of her mother’s healing gift, gave Mercy the physical sensation of being touched, or in this case, held tightly.

  It’s all right. It was just a nightmare. Mercy reassured her further with a real hug. However, the calm waves she sent out didn’t reflect how she was feeling inside. She was disconcerted, because, now that she was next to the girl, it was obvious that the pressure she had been feeling, and that had continued to grow slowly but steadily, was not related to Miriam. Mercy focused on locating its origin.

  I...I know. It was just so terrible. I was at Sami’s birthday party and I had forgotten to wear any clothes…

  Mercy smiled. It’s okay. Go back to bed and dream about something nice.

  Like what? She asked, but her mind was already forming a pleasant thought.

  Yeah, that one is sweet. Go there.

  She was embarrassed that Mercy had seen her secret admiration for one of the boys, so Mercy ruffled her hair and shared with her the quick image of a crush she had experienced when she was younger.

  No way! the girl thought, instantly forgetting her own discomfort.

  Absolutely. I’ll tell you about it later, okay?

  Did Scythe know?

  Doesn’t he always? Mercy’s smile faded and then disappeared. She got up and turned around in a circle, searching. She was feeling some urgency now. The pressure was a build up from one of her unconscious links that wasn’t getting bled down. When she realized why, she said sharply, “Miriam, Harmony. Get up.”