*
He was almost right and didn’t realize how lucky that made him. A full Human would have already killed him by now.
S’tella was standing just inside the door holding a toddler in her arms, and a little girl by the hand. She had a good sized pack sitting beside her.
“Jade, if you would take my son, D’arby, and my daughter, C’eleste, I’ll go shut down the suppressor. With that gone, your people can win the day.”
She looked up at Kendis and smiled. She liked their eyes. They were beautiful. She turned back to Jade.
“You’re going to be needing these,” and handed Jade her underwear. She had removed them because he had ordered her to but hadn’t thrown them away as he’d ordered. She wished she could have kept her pretty shoes for her but he’d had them destroyed along with the clothing she’d been wearing the day he’d brought her there.
She turned back to Kendis while Jade put on her bra and panties.
“You are her soul-mate. She knew you were coming and she fought a good delaying battle. You owe your life to her, you know. In one strand, you died by the projectiles from that weapon on the roof. In this one, you do not. I have to go, please take care of my children.” She kissed D’arby and handed him to Jade, bending to hug and kiss C’eleste.
She turned to leave.
“Wait! S’tella, don’t do it! Surely Montford knows how to open the safe without tripping the explosives,” reasoned Jade.
The esa inhibitor only worked in the area of the safe, but that was enough to prevent Kendis - or her, since she could actually see it - from using telekinesis to remove or detonate the bomb.
She and Kendis turned to look at him, but S’tella was shaking her head.
For the first time since he’d captured her and brought her there, S’tella spoke his name. She smiled, grimly.
“Caine Montford can be incredibly stupid sometimes. And he’s insane, you know. The last time he went into the safe he forgot and set the bomb before he set his safeguard code, which meant he couldn’t open it again without blowing it - and himself - apart. He blamed me for not foreseeing that and warning him about it.”
She shook her head again. “As often as I told him, he never understood that I don’t always see a future event. That’s how he captured me. I never saw it.”
She looked at her children and continued, “But sometimes, even if I do see something, I can’t - or won’t - do anything about it.”
She looked at Montford who was looking at her with his mouth agape. “In fact, I did see that coming - asshole - but I also saw that if I warned you about it, it would have changed this strand, and that is something I could not allow. This is the only strand in which my children survive.”
S’tella shot a wan smile at Jade. “It’s my time, dear. There aren’t any strands in which I survive. Believe me, I wouldn’t take this path otherwise, and some of the other strands” - she grimaced - “show even less pleasant ways for me to go. At least this way will be fast.”
She straightened herself resolutely. “Once the safe is opened, the bomb will blow. It is going to take you two minutes to get to a safe distance and it will take me approximately a minute and a half to get from here to there and get it opened. I will wait another half minute before I open it. Please, take my children and go.” She strode off fast down the hall towards Montford’s rooms.
Montford pulled himself up. “S’tella! Come back here!” he yelled. “You lied to me!” It was the first time he’d called her by name since he’d brought her there.
She poked her middle finger up at him without turning around and kept walking.
The toddler clinging to Jade’s neck crimped his little face up but he didn’t bawl. Instead, huge, silent tears trickled down his plump cheeks.
“Shut up, Montford,” growled Kendis, “You’re scaring the children.”
He looked at Jade, and saw that, though her face was calm, she, too, was crying.
“Give me C’eleste’s hand, Love,” he said softly. He could see how frightened the child was. The little girl wasn’t bawling either, but big tears also slipped down her face. Jade handed Kendis the child’s hand.
“Let’s go Kendis, we don’t have much time, we have to get out of here now. When that thing blows it’ll take this floor off - or at least this wing.”
She started for the stairwell moving fast, the toddler clinging to her. Tears continued rolling down her face.
Kendis reached down and picked up C’eleste. “What about Montford?” he asked. “Shall I leave him?”
“Bring him, he’ll be blown up if he stays in the hall.” she said.
“I wouldn’t care,” mumbled Kendis: he wasn’t as far along as Jade. He immobilized Montford and lifted him up to tow him along with the pack. He kept C’eleste in his arms as he ran.
They got down to the ground floor and out the back door. The guard was missing, and no one tried to stop them. Kendis grabbed Jade’s hand, clutching C’eleste to his chest with his other arm, and together they lifted swiftly up into the morning sky; each with a child in their arms, towing Montford and the large pack. With Jade in her white underwear. They went up and hovered, looking down at the house.
They heard a muffled boom and the left side of the house crumbled, and Jade cried, broken-hearted because she knew her new friend was gone. And the children cried, wailing because they knew their mother was gone. And Kendis fought back tears, as his heart hurt for his soul-mate’s pain and the now motherless children. And Montford cried, loudly, because he was afraid Kendis was going to drop his ass down the side of the mountain. He looked down and he did wet himself.
called Jade, her heart stuttering for S’tella.
And half the continent away, Maggie heard her daughter calling her and she jumped up and shouted out with joy: “Thank all the gods of the universe!”
And Ro, whom Maggie was sitting with so her mom and dad could go get food, sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes, and said, “Mrs. L.? Is it Jade? Is she all right? Is Kendis okay?” She knew Alex was okay. She could feel her soul-mate.
“Yes!” she cried, ecstatically to Ro, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
She felt weak with relief.
Maggie knew Jade must have a reason for having them with her.
sent Kendis. He was dead serious.
answered Maggie. And she really did wish she could allow Kendis to drop the bastard. She figured it would save them a lot of time and trouble. It was unfortunate that, legally, she couldn’t.
They landed lightly in front of the Law center and Kendis kept Montford bound with his esa as he towed him into the center and stood him in front of the desk. Continental Law had gotten a message from Maggie and were waiting for them.
Kendis told them of Montford’s esas so if any of them were susceptible to the pain/pleasure one, they would know to keep their shields tight until Montford was placed in stasis.
The men there looked at Jade, admiring her…assets, until they saw Kendis eying them with his changed eyes, then they took Montford, hosed him down and stuck him in stasis until he could be taken back to Twelve.
They directed Jade and Kendis to the Center For Stray Children where they temporarily left C’eleste and D’arby, hugging and kissing them, promising they would return for them later when they clung to them and cried.
It was midmorning so they took a brief break, found a diner and ate everything in sight, ignoring the startled looks they got.
They went out the door of the diner, flew up, and headed swiftly back to the mountains.
There was still a fight going on, and they had friends there.
###
This book is the first of a trilogy. Read on for an excerpt from book two.
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Boucher’s World: Transformation
(an unedited excerpt)