Perfection

“She challenged your authority. You are not accustomed to that.”

“Because of your reassurance, I was not expecting the attack. No fault of my own.”

“Detective Petersen,” he said, “you are exceptionally skilled at your job, but you have to realize that Ellyssa is a special situation. Besides her brilliant skill, her intelligence surpasses even mine, and her prowess is beyond the Renegades your job usually entails. A challenge for you. I will release her profile to you. Study it.”

“You’re making a mistake,” she said.

George moved closer to Leland. “Regardless of your opinion, Ellyssa will be brought home safely. She is… needed,” he said, while staring at a recognizable face hovering on the monitor.

The hair was different. Instead of long and flowing, like colorless ribbon, it was shorter, feathered along the sides of her pale skin, and slightly offset to the side. Her eyes were off, murky sea-colored rather than pure azure. Peering closer, he noticed the alterations she’d made to the photo. She must have been in a hurry, because the lines didn’t quite match. Good enough to pass inspection by ordinary citizens, though.

Even with the short hair, he would recognize the face of his daughter anywhere. Large eyes, which seemed defiant, as if taunting him, framed with long, dark lashes, shelved over a straight nose and angular cheekbones, stared back at him. Next to the picture, written in black, read the name, Vada Owen.

“Besides, there she is.”

4

“Very nice, Ellyssa. Now, can you tell me what is on this card?”

As soon as Ellyssa closed her eyes, she reached into the head of the research assistant, Mrs. Tucker, plucking from it an image of the mountains with white, icy caps stretching across the limited borders of the rectangular card. She opened her lids and gazed at the assistant. Mrs. Tucker’s face looked excited, and expectation wavered within the depths of her imperfect blue eyes.

“The Rocky Mountains,” she answered.

Mrs. Tucker nodded, looking pleased, and Ellyssa smiled.

Then, Ellyssa’s father, Dr. Hirch, stepped up and slapped her. The unexpected impact whipped her head to the side, and she brought her chubby hand up, covering the place where he had hit her. The coolness of her palm did nothing to stop the growing heat, and the taste of blood flooded her mouth. She blinked back the tears that threatened to spill over, and hardened her face into expressionless stone.

“Remember, Ellyssa, certain emotions only bring pain and, possibly, death. They cloud the judgment and will render you useless when you need your wits about you,” he said. His expression was passive, but anger flickered in his eyes.

She nodded while he towered over her three-year-old body.

“We are done for the day. Go to your room.”

She obeyed.

Ellyssa heard people walking, their steps short and hurried, long before she opened her eyes. She heard snippets of conversations in her half-awake dreams; people with unknown faces flickered in and out of her mind, saying strange things like “dangerous female” and “security breach”.

It took a moment, but the meaning sank in and the haziness of disjointed images evaporated. Fully awake, Ellyssa jolted off the berth, her feet landing with a light thud.

She grabbed her bag and went to the door, pressing her ear against the thin paneling. Another person rushed down the corridor. Opening her mind, an image of her floated within a male’s thoughts. He was looking at a picture. The image was of poor quality, the colors blended together, but the words printed below gave an accurate description of her. She closed the link as the murmuring thoughts of all the passengers barged in and swept away the image she’d just held.

Her father had taken the next step—one that he must be infuriated about. He’d contacted outsiders to help detain her.

Uncertain of the time, she crossed the compartment and looked out the window. The sun was out of her range of sight but, judging from the brightness, she determined late afternoon. A rolling landscape and a forest of densely packed trees zipped by. So unlike the flatness of Central Illinois.

Missouri.

Her eyes lingered on the lavish greenery before her—ash, oak, hickory, and pine. Intertwining branches reached toward the heavens. Directly next to the tracks were blackened rocks. She regarded the dangerous streaks of black skeptically. When she jumped, she’d have to make sure to clear the patch.

She calculated the possibilities and settled on a crouched roll at impact.

At the door again, she waited with her hand on the lever and listened for any other urgent activity. Not including the muffled musings of people in the adjoining compartments, the car remained quiet. She slid the door open and stepped into the hall. A worn red carpet spread the length of the car from one doorway to the next. Both ways remained empty.

She searched for the male who had been holding her picture. Through the windows of the adjoining cars, she saw him talking to another attendant. She moved to her right, and then froze at the sound of hydraulics moving, the fine hairs on her neck twitching.

Without turning around, Ellyssa let her barrier drop briefly and grazed the thoughts of an older male who was thinking of a pretty female…his daughter holding a baby. Air whooshing from her lungs, she turned and looked as an older man with thinning hair stepped into the car. He gave Ellyssa a quick grin before he entered his compartment.

Alone again, she continued toward the end of the car, where metal steps led down into the baggage compartment. She glanced over her shoulder. The attendant still stood there talking, oblivious to her being one car over. She closed her eyes and focused, weeding away the cacophony of thoughts and feelings from the other passengers, picking his brainwaves from all the ramblings—a near-impossible task.

Through the constant static, she saw her picture as the man showed another attendant with a nice face and curly hair. They were whispering in hushed tones. The man holding her picture was filling Curly-Hair in on the details. Police were to pick her up at the next stop, thirty minutes from now.

Apparently, they had not been warned about her psychic ability.

A musical voice danced through the cacophony of whispered thoughts and erased her hold on the male’s thoughts. A female was thinking about a male she’d met at a party. Violins and a piano played as they spun around on the floor. He held her tight in his arms, and the female remembered the thrill as if he held her now.

A strange sensation stirred in Ellyssa, one that made her stomach roll and flutter at the same time. She cut the connection off in mid-thought, just as the tinny ringing of footfalls on the metal steps echoed around her.

Ellyssa glanced at the steps. A blue cap, covering darkish-blond hair, followed by the rest of the woman, bobbed into sight from the lower deck.

The attendant’s smile stretched from ear to ear. When she saw Ellyssa, it amazingly stretched even further, exposing white teeth. Apparently not all of the attendants had been informed of the dangerous female on the train.

Stepping onto the platform, she said, “Is there something I can help you with?” Her tone held a happy, high note to it, mimicking the musical quality Ellyssa had heard in her thoughts.

Ellyssa peeked behind her. The adjoining car stood empty, both male attendants gone, hopefully to the compartment she’d purchased. Relieved, she slipped a false smile on her face. “Is this the direction to the observation car?” she asked, directing her attention back to the attendant.

“Yes, two cars down. I was heading there, myself.” The female beamed as if she’d found a new friend.

“Thank you.”

The woman turned and hit the button on the side of the door. It slid back on its tracks with a snick.

“Oh,” Ellyssa said while patting her pockets. “I left my camera in the room.”

The woman’s face fell, shrinking her smile to its original state of ear to ear. “I can wait, if you’d like.”

“Please, do not bother. I am two cars back,” Ellyssa said, wishing the lady would just go away. “I will retrieve it. Then maybe you can show me the best place to take pictures.”