The Embers Of My Heart (40 page)

Jess's words came back to me. "You'd use your powers to fuck with them, right?" I'd claimed to have ethics to her. I shook my head and pushed my temper down. I could agree with the professor's viewpoint even if he was being an asshole. I wiped away his memories of my office visit and left him with the memory of telling me he'd think about it. I didn't want to force him, but I didn't want to let him get away with treating me or any other students like shit. I left once the memory was solid. My power drained away as I walked out into the hall.

"What'd he say?" Max asked. We'd both needed to talk to a professor, so we had come down to campus together. "Mine just shrugged and said deal with it. Didn't give a shit. I hate this place."

"Pretty much the same here," I said.

"Shitty." We started walking. "At least we'll have a good story for tonight."

"I'm kind of surprised no one's graduating," I said. "I mean, I know you've been flipping majors like burgers, and Drew's reconsidering his whole career, but what about Jess and Kait? And Andreas?"

Max hunkered down into his coat as we stepped outside. "Kait's not motivated enough to graduate in three years. Jess started a double major a while back, so she's got another two trimesters, minimum. Andreas is going to be here forever. I think he's planning to be an eternal student."

I grunted and we walked toward the dorm in silence for a few minutes. I'd come to this school after a year at community college. Only a few of my credits had transferred in, but it was enough to push me ahead of traditional freshmen. I'd hoped to graduate in three years. I knew I didn't even need to graduate at this point, but I wanted that degree. It would feel like I actually accomplished something myself in my time here.

"Campus is quiet right after finals," Max said.

"Half the place went home already," I said. "The other half is downtown celebrating."

"You're staying over the break again?"

"Going to try to make up a class, yeah."

"Same." We walked past the campus security building. "I don't know why I bother. I should just major in the easiest damn thing I can and get out. If I end up getting a job through my parents, the degree's just a formality."

"I know how you feel," I said.

"Hey! Hey, you two!" We both turned at the shout behind us. A campus security officer was running toward us. "Come with me, now! Don't you know there's a campus lockdown?"

"Holy shit, really?" Max turned and started to follow him. I was only a couple of steps behind. "What the hell's going on?"

"We got reports of a student gone mad after grades came out, pulled a gun," the officer said as he waved us into the security building. "Just a few minutes ago. Didn't you get notification?"

I shrugged and looked at Max. "We didn't hear anything. Aren't those announcements supposed to go over the loudspeakers as well?"

The officer spread his hands wide. "I don't know anything about that. All I know is that the call came through our system to go into lockdown."

Max had his phone out. "I need to make sure Jess is all right." He tapped the phone and frowned. "No connection? What?"

I had a sinking suspicion. Something wasn't right here. I looked over at the security officer, who was looking out through a window. No other officers were in the outer portion of the building. "Hey, can I use the bathroom?" I asked. "I have to take a leak and it looks like we're going to be here a while."

The officer looked over his shoulder. "Sorry, kid, hold it for a few more minutes, all right? I have backup coming and I don't want you two to be out of my sight for now. It's protocol for these situations."

I still found it weird. I gestured to Max to see his phone. He gave it to me and I tapped out a message. "Acting weird. Shade group?"

His frown deepened and he typed something back. "Scan and see?"

"Can't. Too visible. Only one on afternoon duty?"

Max looked up and I followed his gaze to the security officer. I expected him to be watching for danger, but instead, he was staring at us with a slight frown. "Not normal."

"If anything happens, run."

He nodded to me and I stretched my shoulders out. "How long till your backup gets here? Seriously, I'm going to piss myself."

He shook his head. "It's my head on the line, kid."

"Can't I just pee in one of the plants?"

Max nearly choked and the officer shook his head again. "I mean, if you really have to go that badly, I can just cite you for public indecency and we'll talk about it later? If there is a later."

I looked around the room for a plant. I wasn't lying outright, I did need to go, but I just needed an excuse to turn my back on him without arousing suspicion. I found a likely target, stepped over, and unzipped. "Cite me, man." I ignored whatever he said in response while I closed my eyes and tapped my power. I searched for any odd links in my Sight that would indicate the presence of a psion.

One thread vibrated and I instinctively raised a shield and spun around. The security officer's eyes glowed a dark forest green, several shades darker than the Establishment green. Max had already vanished. "I guess you won't have to worry about a citation, Parker."

"Seriously, just one guy?" I asked. "Shade must not like you very much."

"Don't expect backup. The lockdown threat was real." He smiled. I heard and felt a thump. The lights flickered and the windows rattled. Had they just set a bomb off? "We're all over this campus, Parker. Don't think you're safe anywhere."

"If you're really all over campus, you'd have tried something sooner," I said. I created a whip of force and flicked it at him. His shield was strong, but I'd broken stronger. "Let's get this over with."

He didn't respond, simply flicked force at me. Sparks burst from my shield with the impact, then something smashed into my back. I stumbled forward and my shield wavered. The plant I had prepared to pee on thumped to the floor just behind me. He wound up a flash of energy, sent it in my direction, but split it just before it hit my shield. I tried to track both of the attacks, but they were just feints. Another blast of kinetic force forced me backwards and I tripped over the plant.

If there was anything I had learned from Shade, it was that in any sort of fight, being on the ground was a tremendous disadvantage. I used telekinesis to pull my body up to the ceiling in an instant, just as a heavy chair sailed into the space I had just occupied. Another force attack shot toward me, this time turning into heat and fire just as it touched my shields. I dropped to the floor and slapped at my clothes. A couple of cinders fell to the floor. This guy was alternating force and physical attacks to keep me off guard and unable to shield everything effectively. If I hunkered down completely, he could just find Max instead. He didn't know that Max had psionic powers, though.

His next attack wasn't physical. He threw another arc of fire at me, splashing it off my shield. At the same time, the ceiling above me buckled downward. I threw myself out of the way, directly into another chair sailing in my direction. Stars, sparks, and darkness spiraled through my vision. "Children," the man muttered clearly. "No real experience in a brawl."

"You're not going to make it out alive," I said, trying to gather my wits and my power. Sirens, plenty of sirens, howled in the background. "And even if you do, Shade's going to kill you for not being able to kill me himself."

"He's much more pragmatic than you think," the man said. I felt psionic force grip my neck. "I'll rip your head off and bring it to him. He'll be fine with that."

"That's disgusting."

His grip tightened, but then I felt an impact and heard him grunt. The grip vanished and I forced myself to my feet just in time to see Max rush the officer. Psionic force built up ahead of him and he just pushed it into the officer, resulting in another thump. I could sense a shield deflecting the psionic blow, but Max wasn't thinking about using only his powers. Before the fake officer could mount a counterattack, Max kicked him in the crotch. I winced. "That's one way to do it."

"You all right?" He looked down at the officer, who resembled a quivering ball. "Should I kick him again, or you able to take care of this?"

I tapped my power. My head was still a little shaky, but I was able to summon up enough power to reach into his head and twist him. "There, he's out."

Max let out a sigh of relief and the glow faded from his eyes. "That was fucking scary, Kev."

"You're telling me." I didn't let my power fade. There might be another one out there. "Don't relax yet. Remember what he said."

"I'm not relaxing, I'm just trying not to overdo it."

I scanned the area again, looking for anyone familiar. Absynthe was broadcasting her presence. I sent her a telepathic message with our location. "We're ok, but there might be another one out there."

"Already took care of one other. Stay there. Still gathering information," she sent back to me.

We stayed put until she showed up. I gave her the abridged version while Max tried to look nonchalant. "You did well," she said. Her eyes started to glow as she looked over to Max. "Sorry, Max. You won't remember this."

He held his hands up. "Whoa, wait just a second. Not necessary anymore."

She frowned and looked at me. "What's he talking about?"

"Show her," I said.

Her gaze flicked back and forth between us as his eyes started to glow. "You awakened him," she said softly. "You're playing a dangerous game, Kevin. I'm required to report a new potential up the chain. Are you ok with this?"

"I'd prefer you not report him yet," I said.

"I'd prefer you tell me about these things ahead of time."

"I'd prefer you trust me."

She looked me over, then at Max, then back to me. The glow from her eyes faded. "It's dangerous to trust you," she said. "But it's more dangerous to not trust you. Both of you, with me."

We followed her out of the building. A short walk took us to the main road crossing the campus. A car pulled up and we got in at Absynthe's gesture. No one spoke during the half hour ride. When we arrived, it was a nondescript house in a nondescript neighborhood. She walked to the front door and simply opened the door. Max looked at me. I shrugged and we followed her in.

The basement was finished and comfortable, aside from the number of people perching on couches, chairs, and a huge table. All eyes turned to me as we walked down the stairs. "What's this?" I asked, finally breaking the silence.

"A safehouse," Absynthe said. "For those of us who disagree with the direction the Establishment has taken under Alistair lately. You're among friends."

I tried to do a headcount. There were at least two dozen people down here. I recognized a few of them. One of them was an agent I had fought when Star had come to town a year ago. "All right. So, we keep this quiet. Right?"

"Very quiet." Absynthe gestured at us. "This is Kevin Parker. You all know that. This is Max Pendleton. You all know that. However, you don't know that Max is an unregistered first tier psion. Now you do."

"Nice to meet you all?" I said, looking to Absynthe for guidance.

"I brought them here for a reason," Absynthe said. "As you all know, there was just an attack on campus. Two of Shade's agents. One set off an explosion on one side of campus as a distraction, while the other attacked Kevin. Both of those hostiles have been taken." Her tone flattened. "I've given orders to twist them hard enough to make sure they don't ever wake up. If we allowed standard treatment, I'm sure they'd mysteriously escape from custody."

"Wait a moment," I said. "You're saying there are people in the Establishment friendly to Shade?"

"I wouldn't say friendly," she said. "It's more that some people don't disagree with him. Either way, they won't openly join his people, but they'll make sure that prisoners escape, that we're given poor orders, that Shade's agents just happen to know where you are at any given time. Why did you think Alistair agreed to your demand for protection? He knows it's not going to help."

"He wants me dead."

"He doesn't care if you're dead or not," she said. "Alistair wants tools. If you had made some sort of massive display of loyalty to him after Shade's trial, he'd be your best friend, but you didn't even pretend. Now he'd just kill you if it was expedient."

"It's not?" Chills ran down my back. I knew Alistair was the calculating type, but I'd never thought of him coming after me.

She shook her head. "You're too prominent to erase. If you vanished, his Establishment and all his plans would collapse. Your mother and I would see to that. No, he won't come after you directly. I would place a solid bet that Shade is working under his orders with plausible deniability. After tonight, I'd place another solid bet that a lot of Establishment agents have orders to look the other way when shit goes down."

"So these are all the people we can trust?" I asked.

"All of us here have agreed to open our minds to others for vouching. If anyone's faking it, we'd have figured it out by now."

I nodded. "So, we've got what, two dozen trustworthy agents against the rest of the Establishment?"

"Closer to thirty," she said. "A few of them are out covering your friends, or otherwise occupied. That's a little under a third of the active agent pool."

I frowned. "Wait. So there're only around ninety active Establishment agents? How the hell have we been holding on with that few?"

"Poorly. Why do you think you were asked to take care of a few tasks?" Absynthe snorted. "We relied on quality over quantity for years, but Green's departure took a lot of talent, and we've never really recovered."

"Green?" Max asked, his first words in this meeting. "Is that another one of the silly codenames?"

"No. Todd Green. He's my uncle."

"Huh. This is pretty convenient for you."

"I wouldn't call it convenient," I said.

"Those of us in this room, at least those of us who have been around for fifteen or twenty years, weren't happy to see him go," Absynthe said. "We didn't leave with him. We all had our reasons then. Things have changed."