by I. T. Lucas
Those trips felt incredibly realistic while they were going on, and only later would she realize how impossible it was for any of it to be real.
Was Arwel a product of her imagination as well?
Those turquoise eyes that were staring at her so intently could belong to Jeremy, but maybe she was seeing someone else because of the damn drugs.
“Are you okay?” Mey asked. “Your hands are trembling.”
“She is having a panic attack,” Arwel said.
“No, I am not. I’m just hallucinating. All of you are part of a drug-induced trip.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Jacki said as she walked up to Jin. “This is real. You are not hallucinating.” She pinched Jin’s arm hard. “Does that feel like anything that belongs in a trip?” She pinched her again. “Or this?”
“Stop it.” Jin caught Jacki’s hand before she managed another one. “You've proved your point.” She massaged the offended spots. “You are so mean.”
“Yeah, but effective. We don’t have time for dramatics.”
Jin showed her the finger. “I’ll get you back for this.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’ll thank me later.” She turned to Mey. “Are we going to hang around here for much longer? Because I could use something cold to drink. I hope you have provisions in your escape vehicle.”
Carol chuckled. “I like you. A practical girl who doesn’t beat around the bush.”
“Let me bring you up to speed,” Mey said.
After she was done, Jacki shook her head. “I don’t know how good your shrouder is, but we might have a problem with the empaths. They are going to feel you messing with their heads.”
“That occurred to me,” Arwel said. “We will deal with each case individually. Lokan is going to accompany us, and he can compel those who we can’t thrall for some reason.”
Carol rubbed her hands. “Let’s do it.”
“One second,” Jin said as they started turning toward the exit. “I have a small favor to ask from Lokan.”
The thing that had been bugging her the most about running was leaving Richard without a word. Especially since he was still compelled to have feelings for her.
Lokan arched a brow. “What is it?”
“Can you remove the compulsion from Richard? Marisol has done to him the same thing that she did to me. I don’t want him to suffer, thinking that the woman he loves left him without a word of explanation. If you remove the compulsion, he won’t be heartbroken because he will realize that he never loved me. And maybe I can tell him what’s going on before Arwel thralls him, and then he can thrall him to forget that too.” She shook her head. “I’m making no sense. If Richard is going to forget what I’ve told him, then there is no point in telling him anything.”
“I’ve already agreed to free him from the compulsion,” Lokan said. “Just point him out to me.”
Carol sighed. “You are such a nice girl, Jin. But you know what they say. Nice girls finish last. To compel Richard, Lokan would have to approach him and talk to him. That’s adding an unnecessary risk factor.”
Unbidden, Jin’s eyes turned to Arwel. “It’s important to me. I want to leave with no regrets.”
After staring at her for a long moment, he nodded. “It shall be done.”
She let out a breath. “Thank you.”
25
Kian
As Kian read Arwel’s message, he exhaled in relief. “Jin is ready to bail.”
“I thought she’d already decided that she was coming with us.” Anandur pushed away from the bus’s side, which the two of them had been leaning against for the past hour, waiting for the driver to come back.
“Apparently, she needed a little more convincing. They are going after the other talents now.”
“Do we tell the rest of the team to start moving out, or do we wait until Jin and Jacki are in the car with us?”
“They should get going. By the time they are done loading Eleanor and everything else into the vans, Arwel will be done. I estimate that it will take him no more than an hour to thrall the other team members. Making them forget about Jin and Jacki coming to the mall this morning won’t be a problem for him.”
“Should I let Wonder know?” Anandur asked.
“Sure. I’ll text Brundar and Syssi.”
Kian texted Brundar first, giving him the green light to take Eleanor back to the resort. He then texted Syssi, letting her know that everything was moving according to plan. More or less. Jacki was an unexpected complication, but then every mission had one. ‘Expect the unexpected’ was the standard operating protocol.
“We have to find the damn bus driver. I should have stuck the tracker to his ass.”
Anandur had already removed the tracker from the bus’s rear fender, but he would probably need to stick it back on if they were to leave the spot and go searching for the driver.
“Did you get a good look at him?”
Anandur nodded. “I will recognize him. The problem is where to start looking. It’s too early for him to hit a bar. Maybe Arwel should ask Jin to keep an eye out for him. He might have gone into the mall. It’s not like there are many places around here that he could have gone to.”
“For all we know, he could have family in town, and he went to visit them.”
“Not likely. He would have taken the minibus with him. What are the chances of them living within walking distance from the mall?”
“True.” Kian pulled out his phone again. “Stick the tracker back on the bus. We are going to check the local bars, and I’m texting Arwel to look for him in the mall. If we have to wait for him to come back, we are going to lose most of our head start. We have to find the bastard.”
As Anandur reattached the tracker, Kian searched the map app for bars and taverns in the vicinity of the mall. There was one about ten minutes’ walk away and another a little further out.
He was betting on the closer one.
Falling into step with Kian, Anandur scratched his beard. “If we can’t find the driver, and if he doesn’t come back until we are ready to move, we should view it as a sign from the Fates that we need to take everyone with us.”
Kian cast him a sidelong glance. “And how do you suggest we do that?”
“Easy. We wait until the driver comes back to collect the recruits and thrall him to head out of town and then stop at the side of the road because there is something wrong with the bus. But instead of calling the base or the nearest mechanic, we will implant our phone number in his head. We get on that bus, thrall everyone to get out and follow us into our vehicles. Then we thrall the driver to fall asleep until the next morning.”
“It’s doable, but not advisable. As much as I would like to get everyone out of there, we can’t risk a manhunt. If only Jin and Jacki go missing, they will assume that one of them had a hidden talent and made everyone forget that they were on that bus. That’s a plausible scenario. But they probably know that neither of them is a compeller, so there is no way they could have convinced everyone to come with them.”
It was a fucked-up situation, and Kian’s conscience had a hard time leaving the kids behind. But taking them was out of the question, and not only because of the risk factor. Those kids had families, and as bad as the program was, they were still allowed to see them. If the clan took them, that would not be possible, and it would also be wrong. They had no right.
“I know,” Anandur said. “What I’m saying is that if we can’t find the driver, we should seriously consider doing that. If we have to wait for him to come back, it will leave us with only two hours of a head start because the moment he gets back to the base, they will realize that two of their recruits are missing. That’s not long enough. But if he doesn’t come back, they will first try to contact him, then they will send people to investigate, probably the local police, and all of that is going to give us at least another hour if not more. Three hours are enough for us to get to the airfield near Washington and take off. By the time they find t
he bus, we will be in the air.”
“All of that is true, and we might be forced to do it your way. But let’s hope that we find the driver, and it won’t be necessary.”
Anandur nodded. “It’s up to the Fates, and I trust their judgment on this. But just in case, I suggest that you call Syssi and tell her to wait. If we have to take everyone, we will need them to come over with the other two vans, and Lokan will have to take a couple of the recruits in his car. Which means that he also has to wait for us to find the driver.”
26
Arwel
“Two down, ten to go,” Jacki said after Arwel was done with a kid named Spencer.
Surprisingly, he had encountered a lot of resistance from the kid as well as the guy before him. Arwel had a feeling that they had been compelled into distrusting strangers.
After he was done, Yamanu brought him back under the shroud.
“I really hate this,” Jin said. “I know that you are all right here with me, but I can’t see you. It was easier when I could at least see Arwel.” She turned to where she thought they were. “Can’t Yamanu exclude me from the damn shroud?”
Arwel was glad that Yamanu was covering their voices as well as their bodies because Jin wasn’t keeping hers down. Poor girl didn’t know how far from her they were. She was the only one in their group who was affected by the shroud like everyone else in the mall and felt completely isolated.
Jacki was immune, so the shroud didn’t work on her, and the rest of them were immortal, so it didn’t affect them either.
Naturally, Yamanu couldn’t release Jin from the shroud’s cover because it was crucial that none of the recruits saw her or Jacki. Besides, it wouldn’t help her to see the others, and she would be just as isolated.
But he could exclude Arwel. If Jin could see him, she wouldn’t feel alone, and he could tell her what the others were saying.
He nudged Yamanu. “Take the shroud off me. This will save you the trouble of taking me out when I approach a recruit, and it will be easier for Jin if she can at least see me.”
“No problem. It’s done.”
Jin puffed out a breath. “Thank you. That’s much better.”
He nodded and then whispered, “I’m not covered by the shroud now, so I can’t look at you or talk to you without people noticing that I’m talking to thin air. But you are covered, so you can talk to me.”
“That’s so weird. But at least I don’t feel like I’m floating in limbo.”
“The first two were hard nuts. Do you remember Marisol compelling you to distrust strangers?”
She shook her head. “But that doesn’t mean anything. She had a way of compelling without it being obvious. Like she told me to trust her, and that covered a lot of things. I trusted her to be truthful, and I didn’t doubt anything she said. She might have said something about trusting only her or something like that. I don’t remember. But anyway, I trust you. So, it would seem that she didn’t do it to me.”
That was nice to hear. But then he had her sister vouching for him, so maybe he didn’t fall under the definition of a stranger.
As the others hung back, giving him and Jin some space, Arwel wondered whether they were doing it consciously because everyone was hoping that he and Jin would become a thing.
He hoped so, but he was so off his game that Jin was probably not impressed.
“There is Wendy.” She pointed. “Richard was supposed to be with her, but I guess he went looking for Jacki and me.”
“What’s Wendy’s talent?”
“She is an empath.”
Arwel stopped and turned around, lifting his hand to indicate that the rest of the group should hang back. When they gathered around an indoor tree, he turned to Jin. “They are all standing next to the tree. Go join them. I’ll approach her by myself.”
Jin nodded and did as he asked.
Still, when he walked up to the girl, she was radiating stress by the gallon. She was looking in the direction of the tree as if she could sense that there were people there, and it was making her nervous that she couldn’t see them.
Wendy must be a powerful empath to feel their emotions and be able to pinpoint their location by that.
“Excuse me.” He smiled his most charming smile. “Do you know where the restrooms are?”
She glanced at him for a second and then shifted her eyes back to the group. “I don’t know. I’m not from here.”
He reached into her mind, but there was a thick blanket of mistrust mixed with angst that was hovering over everything in there like smog on a bad day in Los Angeles. Now he was convinced that Marisol had used some form of compulsion on the recruits or a subconscious suggestion not to engage with anyone outside the program.
Perhaps Lokan should override it before Arwel attempted a thrall, but that meant that Yamanu had to remove the shroud from Lokan, and Wendy was looking right at them.
Pulling out his phone, he texted Yamanu with instructions to hide on the other side of the tree and release Lokan.
The group changed locations, and several moments later, Lokan emerged from behind the tree and sauntered toward Wendy. “Hello, pretty lady. My name is Logan, and I’m the most trustworthy guy you’ll ever meet. In fact, I’m the only one you can trust, and I’m also the best-looking one.”
That should have taken care of Eleanor's compulsion for Wendy to trust her.
Except, the girl looked Lokan up and down. “Does that line work for you? Because it’s pretty lame.”
He made a pouty face. “And here I thought that I was being so suave.” He offered her his hand. “Let’s start over and introduce ourselves. My name is Logan, and I would love to invite you for a cup of coffee. We can talk, get to know each other, and then I will no longer be the pesky stranger to be wary of. I’ll be your friend.”
That was good. It should override Eleanor’s compulsion to mistrust strangers.
“I’m Wendy,” she said shyly, her tone lacking its prior hostility.
Lokan grinned. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Wendy.”
It was progress. Still, when the girl smiled and took Lokan’s offered hand, Arwel was taken by surprise. But the moment their hands touched, Wendy’s smile disappeared, and her expression turned serious. “Take me with you.”
Lokan swallowed. “To the coffee shop?”
Holding on to his hand, she shook her head. “I know that something is going on. I know that you and your friend with the beautiful eyes want to make me forget something. You both have paranormal talents, but you are not connected to the program. Are you here to take someone? Because I can sense that you have good intentions but that you are also feeling sorry for me. I didn’t feel it before. You did something. You broke through some barrier that was blocking me.”
Arwel and Lokan exchanged glances.
Well, this was a pickle.
“Please?” She held on to Lokan’s hand. “Don’t leave me behind.”
In a last desperate attempt, Arwel reached into her mind, but it was no use. Wendy knew he and Lokan had paranormal abilities, and she knew that they were about to free someone. She wanted to run so desperately that no other thought could penetrate that whirlwind of need and want.
Even if he could somehow thrall her, Arwel had no heart to leave the girl behind.
“Let’s take her to the others.”
Lokan nodded. “Kian is going to throw a major tantrum.”
“Who is Kian?” Wendy looked at him with frightened eyes.
Lokan patted her hand. “You’ll find out soon. But don’t worry. His bark is much worse than his bite.”
27
Kian
“Are they fucking kidding me?” Kian wanted to hurl the phone at the pub’s wall. “They are bringing in another girl.”
Instead, he slammed it on the table, causing several people to look at him with a mix of worry and annoyance in their eyes.
Damn, he should be able to control his temper and avoid attracting attention. And a
s always, the failure to do that only angered him more.
“What happened?” Anandur put his hand over the phone while casting the barflies a reassuring smile.
Kian leaned toward him and lowered his voice to a near whisper. “She didn’t respond to Arwel’s tricks and somehow guessed what he and Lokan were up to. She has the same ability as Arwel, but that doesn’t explain how she could have possibly known what he was planning when he approached her.”
Anandur grinned. “She must be very powerful.”
“It would seem so. She begged them to take her with them.”
“I think that the Fates had something to do with it. Maybe they decided that we need her.”
Kian shook his head.
He should have never said anything about believing that the Fates were real. Ever since he had, everyone around him was invoking them left, right and center, and that was a recipe for disaster.
Decisions shouldn’t be made based on faith, only on facts. Once every last detail was taken into consideration, and a solid plan was made, then it was okay to hope and pray and do all the other silly things that people did in the face of uncertainty.
“We should keep looking for our guy.” Kian pushed to his feet and dropped a couple of twenties on the table.
They hadn’t found the bus driver in the pub, but Anandur had been thirsty, so they had stopped for a drink and had grabbed a bite to eat while they were at it.
Outside, Kian checked the location of the other bar on his phone before heading in that direction.
With Wendy bringing the number of passengers to eight, one of them would have to sit in the trunk area of the Suburban. The other option was for Lokan and Carol to take Wendy in their car and deliver her to the meetup point where the two other vans would be waiting for them.
“We don’t have enough space in the dungeon,” Anandur said. “There are only two nicely furnished cells. Even if Jin and Jacki share the bigger one, the other one would be taken by a Guardian.” He smirked. “Probably Arwel. He will want to stay close to Jin. And if you want to bring more Guardians to try their luck with Jacki, they will need a furnished cell or two as well. But even if they stay in the apartments upstairs, we still need one more for the new girl.”