“No,” Terry said brusquely. “Adrian looks nothing like my father.”
Charles shrugged. “Well, you didn’t know your father when he was your age. And besides, you got your looks from your mother.”
To break an uncomfortable silence, Cindy invited Charles to stay for some coffee and birthday cake. Charles refused, claiming that he had had a long day and wanted to get some rest. Cindy didn’t ask twice.
As Charles headed for the door, he said, “Oh, and Terry, Mr. Baker wants a quick word with you. In person. He’s at home now, and he wants you to come over.”
“Now?” asked Terry.
“Mr. Baker is off for the rest of the evening, so you can go anytime. He said he just wants a few minutes.”
“I’ll go get it over with.”
Terry left with Charles. Cindy, Alia and I went back to the dining table to finish our dessert.
Terry was only gone for ten minutes or so.
“What did he want?” I asked when she returned.
“Tell you later, Half-head,” replied Terry.
Terry gobbled her slice of chocolate cake and quickly excused herself to take a bath. That left Alia and me to help Cindy with the cleanup, which was fine. It was Terry’s birthday, after all.
Once the dishes were out of the way, I trotted back to my bedroom with Alia on my heels. My sister wanted to play a game of checkers with me before bed, but I wasn’t in the mood. As Alia disappointedly flipped through one of her unicorn books at her desk, I rested on my bed with my back against the headboard, twirling the crossbow bolt in my fingers.
Wondering.
Cindy hadn’t opened Ralph’s letter at the dinner table, and I wasn’t about to ask her to share it. After hearing Ralph’s unlikely apology to my sister and learning what he had said to Charles about me, I suspected that Ralph’s letter might contain something about his killing of Cindy’s husband. If not a straight-out apology, perhaps at least a few words of remorse. Suddenly that didn’t seem as unlikely as I had previously thought. During our various encounters, my relationship with Ralph had gone from mortal enemy to something beyond a truce, if not quite friendship. I understood now how Ralph had lived his life in pain, and how his choices had reflected that pain. I had skipped his funeral, but perhaps someday I would visit his grave.
I tried levitating the bolt over my open hand, and was surprised at how easily I could keep it in the air. The bolt was made of steel, and as such it should have felt much heavier in my mind.
“Alia, come here,” I said, getting up from my bed and leaving the bolt on my pillow. “I want to try something.”
Alia put down her book and jumped out of her chair. “What is it, Addy?”
I focused my telekinesis around her body and gently lifted her up. Once she was hovering about a foot over the floor, I tried to levitate myself while keeping Alia in the air.
Alia let out a little gasp of surprise as she fell back down onto the floor.
“Sorry,” I said. “But I think I almost had it for a second there.”
I tried again, this time standing much closer to her. It took an extraordinary amount of concentration, but I could do it. If only for a few seconds, I was levitating both Alia and myself at the same time. There was no question about it: my power had grown again.
The door suddenly burst open, and in my surprise, I dropped Alia again. Fortunately, we were both only a few inches from the floor anyway.
Terry stuck her head through the doorframe and said to Alia, “Bath’s open, kid.”
“It only takes one hand to knock, Terry,” I said as Alia grabbed her nightclothes and left the room.
Terry ignored my complaint. “Nine-ball?”
“Sure,” I said, telekinetically picking up the crossbow bolt from my pillow and moving it to my desk.
Terry gave me a disbelieving look. “You’re not actually going to keep that thing, are you?”
“I don’t see why not,” I replied. “It was a parting gift, after all.”
Terry snorted loudly.
Entering the room, Terry walked over to my desk to examine the crossbow bolt. She gingerly picked it up and peered at it closely as if to check how straight it was. “I never knew my grandfather collected trophies.”
I smiled and said, “You know, I think Ralph really wanted to love you, Terry. He was probably just afraid to get close to anyone.”
“Stow it, Adrian!” Terry said sharply, dropping the bolt back onto my desk. “I really don’t care. He’s dead. That’s the only good thing about him.”
I didn’t reply, and just gazed silently in her direction. She stared back defiantly, but I could see the discomfort in her eyes.
Suddenly Terry said, “You know, you do look a bit like my father. I saw a picture of him once.”
I said hesitantly, “Ralph wasn’t such a terrible man, Terry. We’ve both met worse.”
“I suppose,” Terry grudgingly agreed.
Then she eyed the crossbow bolt again and said in an innocent tone, “You keeping this thing... Could it possibly mean that you’re considering taking on missions again?”
“No,” I replied flatly.
Terry laughed. “Hey, you know I had to try.”
I laughed too.
“You’ll come around someday,” said Terry. “Besides, war can come to us right here. You don’t have to go looking for it.”
“I know that,” I said.
I was still training regularly with Terry. And it wasn’t just to “play my part” for Mr. Baker. While I was certain that I wouldn’t be fighting for the Guardians anymore, I still lived with Cindy and Alia. I had to be ready.
Terry got regular updates through the Raven Knights, so I knew that our situation was more dangerous than it had ever been during Larissa Divine’s time. The Angels had no master controller now, so they weren’t out to absorb us. They had no reason to try to take us alive.
Still, it wasn’t exactly a shooting war. Not yet, anyway, because the Angels were in a state of chaos following the loss of their queen. They still hadn’t decided on a successor to the throne. There were several contenders. While it could be several more months before enough Angels lost their psionic conversion for the faction to completely fall apart, it was already beginning to splinter at the edges. Within days of Larissa Divine’s death, two of the Angels’ weakest links had broken away, declaring themselves independent factions. More would surely follow.
I asked, “What did Baker want?”
“A couple of quick things,” replied Terry. “One was to confirm my request to rejoin the Ravens under Jack P.”
“You’re going on missions again?”
“Sure,” Terry said lightly. “You’re guarding the house. Cindy knows of my request, of course, but I didn’t want to bring it up at the table. I originally wanted to take Alia too, but...”
I glared at her.
“I’m kidding!” laughed Terry. “Cindy couldn’t take a joke either. But I’m going back, anyway, alone if I must. Soon I’ll be old enough to begin blocking training, and once I’m good at that, I’ll transfer to the Lancers.”
“I’m sorry about breaking my promise.”
“Like I said, I’m sure you’ll come around,” Terry said with a shrug. Then she gave me a wicked grin and added, “After all, you’re destined for greatness, right?”
I didn’t smile. “You know I don’t believe in destiny, Terry. Especially the kind that leads to greatness.”
“That’s good,” said Terry, still grinning, “because it won’t happen.”
Fine by me. “What else did Baker want?”
Terry rolled her eyes. “He wanted my assurance that I would keep our little secret. Again! It’s the third time now. And of course he wanted to make sure that you and Alia wouldn’t squeal.”
“I’m not surprised,” I said mildly. “Mr. Baker’s credibility with Cindy is on the line.”
If Mr. Baker had used me as a diversion to send in his assassination team, so had I used him
to make contact with Cat. I wasn’t going to hurt Mr. Baker without good reason. Alia was the weakest link, but even my blabbermouth sister was old enough now to keep a small political secret from Cindy.
Terry walked over to the window and gazed down at the city lights as she said, “He also gave me one juicy detail about my uncle’s scouting mission. It’s supposed to be a secret until the Council’s official announcement tomorrow, though.”
“Tell me,” I said.
Terry’s reflection in the window smiled playfully. “So you are interested in this war.”
“No, I’m not,” I said stubbornly. “Tell me.”
Terry shrugged. “Alright. Apparently your buddy Randal is now the de facto leader of the Angels.”
It took a few seconds for that to sink in.
“It’s strange, I know,” said Terry, turning to me. “The queen had other relatives, some of them even higher ranking Seraphim. We don’t yet know, or maybe Mr. Baker just didn’t tell me, what strings Randal Divine pulled to put himself at the helm. At least your sister is well protected now.”
I quietly touched the amethyst on my chest. I still wore Cat’s pendant, but not in the hope that I would ever see her again. I wore it to remember her. I wore it in the hope that she would be well. After all, she was still my sister. Nothing could ever change that.
And maybe, just maybe, being Randal’s daughter was a good thing for her. When the Angels eventually fell apart, their main force would probably remain in Randal Divine’s control, which meant that Catherine Divine would continue to be well taken care of. It wasn’t the happily-ever-after ending that I would have chosen. Not by a hundred miles. But it would do.
I smiled at Terry and nodded. Yes, it would do.
“So, Adrian,” said Terry, “nine-ball.”
“Oh, right. Yeah, let’s go.”
This pentalogy will continue right where it left off in
Adrian Howell’s PSIONIC
Book Four
The Quest
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About the Author
Born of a Japanese mother and American father, Adrian Howell (pen name) was raised for a time in California and currently lives a quiet life in Japan where he teaches English to small groups of children and adults. Aside from reading and writing fiction, his hobbies include recumbent cycling, skiing, medium-distance trekking, sketching and oversleeping.
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Adrian Howell’s PSIONIC
Book Three: Lesser Gods
First Edition
All characters, places and events in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, real persons, living, dead or yet to be born, is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Adrian Howell
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or psionic, including photocopying, recording, telepathy, dreamweaving, and information storage and retrieval systems without the permission of the author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Security Breach
Chapter 2: A Birthday Request
Chapter 3: Double-Wild-born
Chapter 4: The Big One
Chapter 5: In Harm’s Way
Chapter 6: Voices in the Dark
Chapter 7: Lives So Changed
Chapter 8: Hope and Fear
Chapter 9: The Last Resort
Chapter 10: Terry and Laila
Chapter 11: The Last Sky Guardian
Chapter 12: A Finding-Day Surprise
Chapter 13: The Gathering of Lesser Gods
Chapter 14: The Arena and the Phantom
Chapter 15: Discovery and Decision
Chapter 16: The Crossing
Chapter 17: My Sister’s Keeper
Chapter 18: The Dawn of a New Age
End Materials
Lesser Gods Page 46