Tekgrrl (15 page)

“No, but you were told by a teammate to go home and let me check you out. And you had a similar experience earlier, so even if Luke hadn’t said something, common sense would dictate that you come right to me. Especially after I told you specifically to come to me should anything occur.”

“I was afraid,” I admitted.

“Of what?”

“That you’d take me off the team.”

“What do you think is going to happen now?” Paul growled. “You don’t honestly expect that I’ll keep sending you out into action and among the general populace like this.”

My blood pressure pounded in my ears. “You’re firing me?”

“No, I’m sidelining you,” Paul said, burying his hands in his jacket pockets and turning away.

“We have to, Mindy,” Wesley said. “It’s for your own safety and the general public’s. And we need to talk about those mental blocks.”

“We have to go clean this mess up in Washington first,” Paul put in.

“Wait, what mess in Washington?” Lainey asked.

“Paul and I have to go meet with Simon and the rest of his committee,” Wesley told her. “They’re concerned.”

“Like we’re getting called into the goddamn principal’s office,” Paul snapped, pacing back and forth in front of my bed.

“It’s stupid political posturing,” Wesley assured me. “Nothing we can’t handle.”

“We have to go kowtow to Simon Leasure, and that turns my stomach,” Paul corrected.

“Do you honestly think
I’m
bowing down to Simon Leasure?” Wesley shook his head. “We’ll let them know we’re handling it and that’s that.” He frowned and turned to look at me. “I’m just going to check you, Mindy, see what can be done about these blocks.”

As I lay still on the bed, Wesley closed his eyes and, speaking in soft Italian, ran a hand over the top of me without touching, like he was doing a medical scan. He concentrated most on my head. Still with his eyes closed, he said to me in English, “Try to reach those blocked memories, Mindy.”

I did as he asked, and immediately a sharp pain burst through my brain.

“Is that like what happens when you access your new powers?” Wesley asked.

“No, it’s totally different. It’s like…when I’m upset or angry that they hit like that.”

“Well, try to go there,” Wesley said.

I thought of the pain I had brought on those poor people at the club, and of my anger that was out of my control. I felt my skin vibrate slightly.

Wesley nodded. “I think we need to take those blocks down,” he said to the others. “She might be able to access the part of her mind that lets her control those new powers.”

“How’d Mindy get new powers?” Lainey asked.

Paul gave me a look like I was a specimen on a tray. “It’s possible that when the Kalybri were, for lack of a better word, tinkering with her, they accidentally unlocked powers that were latent, that were never meant to be accessed. It may have been genetic coding that should have passed down to her children that instead got yanked to the surface now.”

Though I’d had similar lines of reasoning, I hated how he rattled that off, all cool and detached. It was my life he was talking about!

“The powers are currently being accessed in times of severe stress,” Wesley said. “So it’s subconscious right now, like her dream-memory retrieval. We take down the blocks, she might be able to control them consciously.”

“Yeah, but after what happened yesterday, I’m afraid if we take down the blocks, she might get worse,” Paul said. “Her parents were concerned that she would go insane, and that’s
all
we need, for her to become insane and wield powers like a psychic hammer.”

“The blocks are going to fail anyway,” Wesley pointed out.

“We don’t need to speed along the process, at least not right now with the government breathing down our necks,” Paul said, barely sparing me a glance. “We need to just monitor her to make sure it doesn’t get any worse and keep her out of the line of fire until we get this mess straightened out.”

“I can’t live like this anymore,” I said, since they were ignoring me. “Not knowing what happened, and now having these powers I can’t control and that I don’t know where they came from…” I looked at Wesley. “You’ve
got
to take these blocks down.”

He frowned. “I don’t know if I can, Mindy. They were put in using alien technology and psychic abilities, neither with magic. I’m going to have to circumvent the system, and my power’s not what it used to be.”

“Just try, please, Wesley,” I said, begging and not even caring at the moment. “I would rather risk insanity than live white-knuckled, fearing that I’m going to accidentally hurt someone.”

Paul looked at his watch. “We literally don’t have time for this. We have to get to Washington ASAP.” He frowned at me. “I know it goes against your rebellious attitude, but you’re just going to have to accept that you’re not in the position to make decisions on what’s best, Mindy.”

I stared at him, openmouthed. “It’s my life. My mind.”

“Your last decision caused more than ten people to be hospitalized.”

That stung. I sat back, inwardly seething.

Wesley shook his head. “As much as it pains me to say so, I agree with Paul in that we have to deal with one crisis at a time.”

Paul shot him a glare. “Thanks.”

“Right now, we’ve got to deal with the aftermath of what happened,” Wesley continued. “You’re in the safest place you can possibly be—with your friends—and if the blocks fail, they fail. If they stay put…well, we can pick up where we left off once this matter is settled.”

“Doesn’t anyone care about what I think?” I asked.

Paul gave me a cold look. “Not right now, no.”

“Wes, it might be safer to just take them down now,” Lainey said. “Poor Mindy’s a danger to herself and others, and if taking down the blocks will give her control…”

“But we don’t know that it will,” Paul argued. “And we have got to go.”

“They’ll wait, Paul,” Lainey snapped, using a tone of voice I rarely heard from her. “Maybe the reason this happened is because you didn’t deal with this crisis in the first place.”

“What did you expect me to do, Lainey?” Paul growled. “We’re dealing with alien technology that not even your husband, the smartest man on earth, is sure he can fix.”

“You can’t just sit there and not do anything for her. She’s in pain! If you—”

Selena tapped on the door and walked in, interrupting, giving cautious glances at all of us. “The car’s here,” she reported.

“We’ll figure out the best course of action later,” Paul said, and he turned to leave.

“Wes?” Lainey looked imploringly at him.

“I’ll do what I can, when I can,” Wesley said, leaning forward to kiss her and then drop a kiss on Emily’s head. “I promise.” He hurried out the door with Paul.

I burst into tears. I couldn’t help it; I was scared and upset by the whole ordeal, and by how they had acted around me, like I was someone unstable and dangerous.

And maybe I was.

“They wouldn’t listen,” I sniffled.

Lainey’s lips were a thin, determined line. “Wesley might be too busy, but I know someone who isn’t. You feel up to a short trip?”

I nodded. “If it’ll help get rid of these blocks, hell, yes.”

She picked up Emily and headed out of my bedroom, dragging me into the main area of my living quarters. “Tobe? Selena?” she called.

Toby appeared from the kitchen. “What’s up?”

“Mindy and I have to go out. I need you watch Emily.”

Toby frowned. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

I was crushed by his reaction. “What, you don’t trust me? Are you going to be like Paul now?” I hissed.

Toby sighed, pushing his hands into his pockets. “You didn’t see yourself, Mindy. It was scary.”

Great, now my best friend feared me. I tried to stifle the tears that threatened to well up.

“Well, I’m trying to take care of her so she doesn’t have another incident like that.” Lainey handed over Emily. “Now, we’ll be back.”

“Where are you going?” Kate asked. We bumped into her while trying to leave my quarters. I was a bit surprised to see her; ever since the start of whatever problems she and Paul were having, the normally outgoing goddess had turned inward and begun avoiding contact with the rest of us.

“Out,” Lainey said. “To get some help for Mindy.”

“Uh-huh.” Kate eyed me. “Sounds like she needs it.”

I glared at her. “Thanks.”

Her cold glance swept over me. “Well, what would you say if
I
put ten people in the hospital?”

“Actually, why don’t you come with us, Kate?” Lainey suggested. Both Kate and I reacted like she had suggested something perverse, but she continued: “If Mindy does lose it after the blocks come down, I could use your help.”

“Why her?” I asked.

Lainey addressed Kate. “Your powers of making people fall in love with you and do what you want—does it only work on men?”

“Not necessarily,” Kate admitted. “As long as they’re not already in love, I can enchant a man or a woman.”

“Hold on, I’m not wired that way,” I said, holding up a hand. “And even if I was, Kate certainly wouldn’t be my type.”

“Romantic love isn’t the only type,” Lainey suggested. “What about parental love?”

Kate shrugged. “I guess. I never really considered it before; I just assumed it was limited to romantic love.”

“And you’re not that close to your mother,” Lainey said to me. “So it could work. If nothing else, it will help to have another superstrong person there to hold you down.”

“True.” I gave Kate a fake smile. “And you are old enough to be my mother.”

Kate sighed. “Why not? I’m not doing anything else tonight.” She frowned, then asked, “Wait, what did Paul say about it?”

“He doesn’t know,” Lainey admitted. “He wanted to wait until this crisis with the government was settled.”

“So he didn’t approve?”

Lainey shook her head.

Kate grinned, the first such expression I had seen from her in a while. “I’m definitely in.”

“We’re going to a biker bar?” Kate asked, looking around.

Lainey shook her head. “No. We’re going down an alleyway
by
the biker bar.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” I said, stepping up next to Kate. “I know you were looking for a date for Friday night to make Paul jealous.”

“Please. Like Paul cares anymore,” Kate said with what sounded like a hint of sadness. But when she turned to face me, her face was blank. “We’re through.”

I was shocked. Even though they’d had problems, they’d been
the
power couple for a while now and I didn’t doubt their feelings for each other. I didn’t think they’d ever break up for real and this news rocked me. “Serious?”

“As a heart attack.” Kate’s face was grave. “He wanted a commitment I couldn’t give him. I needed to let him go since it wasn’t meant to be.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, actually meaning it. I liked to torment Kate in a weird little-sister to big-sister way, and while I might be jealous of her good looks and the fact that she could get any guy she wanted—including the one I did—I’d never harbored any ill will. And it was a bit sad to think that, with her powers, she knew their love wasn’t meant to last.

She shrugged. “Gods know it’s my fault. He deserves better.”

I didn’t know what to say about that, so decided to change the subject. “Lainey, where are we going, exactly?”

“To visit the most powerful magic user since Wesley’s rebirth,” Lainey said, walking down the alley and scrutinizing the wall.

“The most powerful magic user is a bum?” I asked, glancing around.

“Or a biker?” Kate put in.

“No, the most powerful magic user lives in a pocket universe,” Lainey explained. “Ah, there it is. Almost missed it. Here we go. Hold on to my hand, you two.”

We each took one of her hands and started walking, seemingly into the wall, and suddenly we were somewhere else entirely. Kate and I exchanged surprised glances and took in our surroundings.

We were in a bar that looked like it had been decorated by someone with serious fetishes. The walls and floors were covered in thick red velvet, contrasting with black leather chairs around slick metallic and dark mahogany tables. Patrons perched in those chairs. The only light came from the flickering candles dispersed across every available surface, which meant the faces of the patrons were concealed to the casual observer, which was probably the point.

Lainey stopped one of the twig-thin and unearthly pale waitstaff. “We’re here to see Fantazia.”

The androgynous waiter smirked. “You and everyone else, miss.”

“She’ll see me.”

“In due time.” The waiter started to pass, but Lainey stepped in front of him.

“Tell her Lainey Livingston-Charles is here.”

The waiter nodded. “Take a seat. Someone will be with you shortly.”

“Thank you.” Lainey took the table he pointed out, and Kate and I filed in next to her. Kate was just as silent as I, which was comforting: At least I wasn’t the only one who felt out of her element.

“What is this place, Lainey?” I asked.

“Switzerland for the magic set,” she said, waving away the goblet of wine a server offered. “Fantazia doesn’t take sides amongst the magic community. Good or bad, she’ll do anyone a favor. For a price.”

Kate smiled at the server and took the wine. “I’ve heard of her, but I’ve never met her in all these centuries.”

“According to Wes, she dropped out of polite society a while back,” Lainey said. “Just likes to stay here and have the magic users owe her.”

“You think she’ll take these mental blocks down for me?” I asked.

“If we agree to her price,” Lainey said. “Who knows what she’ll want, though. Or when she’ll want it.”

I didn’t know if I liked owing someone so much. “We don’t have to do this, Lainey. We can wait until Wesley can give it a go.”

“Wesley isn’t sure if he can take them down,” Lainey pointed out. “Besides, he trusts Fantazia.”

“She’ll see you now,” the androgynous waiter said, appearing out of nowhere. We all stood up to follow him back into the VIP suite, which was a back room curtained off from the rest of the bar.